In northwestern France, a passenger train derailed, injuring 44 people. A rail piece weighing up to 300 kilograms was found at the scene, and authorities are investigating whether someone deliberately caused the derailment.
According to AFP, at about 7:45 p.m. on the 11th (local time), a regional express train (TER) that departed Rouen in northwestern France and was heading to Caen derailed near Cléon in Seine-Maritime.
Four carriages left the tracks, and one of them tipped onto its side. Of the 186 passengers on board, 44 were injured, and an 18-year-old woman was in critical condition.
Investigators found a rail piece on the track estimated to weigh 250 to 300 kilograms. Authorities are looking into the circumstances on the assumption that someone may have deliberately placed it on the track to cause the crash.
Prosecutor Sébastien Galois said the investigation must determine how the rail piece came to be placed on the track.
Hervé Morin, president of the Normandy regional council, said, "A train passed an hour before the crash, and there was no maintenance work in between," and argued, "There is no way the rail piece ended up on the track by itself."
He added, "At this stage, the most likely scenario is that there was conduct that can be seen as a crime, beyond mere malicious behavior." The maximum train speed on the section is 120 kilometers per hour.
Louis (24), who was on the train, told ICI Normandy radio, "Suddenly the train started jolting, and about three seconds later the impact became stronger," adding, "I'm still shaking."
Mélanie Delacour, the mayor of Cléon, said, "Even the carriages that did not leave the track had their windows shattered, and rocks flew into the carriages because of the train's speed," explaining that it could easily have turned into a major disaster.
Across Europe, sabotage targeting railways has recently followed one after another. In Nov. last year, an explosive device and a metal clamp suspected of being intended to induce a train derailment were found on the line linking Warsaw and the eastern city of Lublin in Poland. An explosive went off as a freight train passed, but the impact was small and there were no significant damages.
Polish authorities concluded that two Ukrainians recruited by Russian intelligence carried out the operation.
In France, in July 2013, a train entering Brétigny-sur-Orge station south of Paris derailed and crashed into the platform, killing seven people. The cause at the time was found to be poor maintenance. In Nov. 2015, a TGV high-speed train on a test run near Strasbourg derailed due to speeding, killing 11 people.