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Train crash leaving 27 dead believed to be terror attack
Published: 30 November, 2009, 01:25
Edited: 03 September, 2010, 19:44
TAGS: Russia, Accident, Terrorism
Police investigating the Friday night explosion on a Russian express say the organizer of the 2007 train blast could be linked to the recent tragedy. As of Tuesday evening, the death toll stands at 28.
A source close to the investigation told Interfax news agency that currently they are checking Pavel Kosolapov’s possible connection to the Saturday explosion. Formerly a Russian soldier, he later joined militants, and is suspected of staging a similar terror act in August 2007 and is now on the police wanted list. The details and modus operandi were very much alike in the two incidents, the source noted.
Other theories as to who committed this crime point the finger at some extremist organizations or North-Caucasian militant groups who might stage the terror act in order to destabilize Russia.
“Obviously, this was not one person who did it, but a group of people, united by one and the same idea. The amount of the explosive and the type of the device that caused the blast contributes to this suggestion,” the source said.
The suspects
Police have issued descriptions of two suspects, according to Interfax news agency. One of them is described as a Slavic-looking man about 30-35 years old with slim thin lips and high cheekbones. Another suspect is a tall man of athletic build of approximately the same age with dark hair. He was dressed in a white shirt with no tie.
The descriptions have been sent to regional Interior Ministry departments.
A house in the Tver region where the terrorists stayed while preparing the bomb was discovered by investigators, informs RIA Novosti news agency. Evidence of up to four men staying there for several days was found in the building.
Local residents told that a short while before the train crash a stranger visited a couple of villages in the area, asking for a house “for his relatives.”
At the moment police are searching for the location where the attackers allegedly made a radio signal which activated the explosive device.
Interior Minister Rashif Nurgaliev earlier said that extra security measures are being taken along the railway between Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The investigation claims they've established the composition of the explosive used in Friday's train bombing.
They used a binary device that included explosive gelatin detonated with a standard defensive grenade igniter set, which usually takes 3.2 to 4.2 seconds to detonate and in this case these seconds became crucial, giving the locomotive and the first 10 carriages the time to flash past the charge before it went off.
The second blast did not explode as the terrorists planned because of a jammer brought to the crash site by special services.
Investigators believe terrorists were responsible, as they have evidence explosives were used to derail the train.
Psychologist Anna Portnova said that the people close to those who were killed are undoubtedly distraught, so local doctors and psychologists from the Emergency Services are helping them.
“People find it very hard to cope with the news of their family members being killed. For some, psychological help is enough. Others need medication,” she added.
Homemade explosive found
“Preliminary evidence suggests that it was an explosion of a homemade device, equivalent of seven kilograms of TNT,” Russian Federal Security Service chief Aleksandr Bortnikov said on Saturday.A spokesperson for the Russian Investigative Committee, Vladimir Markin, added some more details regarding the blast.
“We have found a 1.5-by-1-meter hole at the train crash site, and also the remains of an unidentified explosive,” he said. Markin noted that the accident, which has left 25 dead, is almost certainly an act of terror.
Russian Railways chief Vladimir Yakunin announced that there were two bombs planted on the train tracks below the ill-fated Nevsky Express.
"We can now confirm that two explosive devices went off,” Yakunin told the Vesti 24 television station. “Luckily, neither people nor the infrastructure were damaged by the second one."
He added that the second device went off at about 2 p.m. on Saturday but didn’t detonate full force.
According to the head of the Russian Interior Ministry Rashid Nurgaliev, several people are suspected to be involved in the blast. The official noted that traces at the crime scene could help in the investigation.
On Saturday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hosted a conference with ministers dealing with the crash.
“Work must be conducted in several directions – medical assistance, social support, restoration of freight and passenger links, maintaining security and finally the whole network of investigative measures,” Dmitry Medvedev said.
He also ordered a thorough investigation into the case and said that the results should be reported to him personally.
The tragedy has evoked a large response worldwide. The presidents of France and the United States, the government of Brazil have expressed condolences to the relatives of those killed in the accident. Leaders of Ukraine, Belarus and some other CIS countries have also sent their words of support to Russia.
The Nevsky Express passenger train crashed late on Friday near the town of Bologoye in the Tver Region, some 160 kilometers from the Russian capital. It was traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Three carriages derailed in the accident; one of them was completely destroyed.
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i think u all should look at ur selfs in russia and see how unsafe to live with a sociaty full of mafaia and crimes widley spread all over russia look at these roots and cut off instead of putting the blame on the others or throwing it on the muslim comunity as islam never called to kill innocent people ,u r just brain washed by ur media which cant solve the major problem!!!! just think ......
This line was attacked in 2007, where was the action plan?, why did it take 2 hours for help to arrive when a hospital was only 10 miles away?, why were the staff on the train not trained in give first aid, why was there no safety equipment on this train. A third rate response from a third world country... shocking.
November 30, 2009, 15:21, john wrote > This line was attacked in 2007, where was the action plan?, why did it take 2 hours for help to arrive when a hospital was only 10 miles away?, why were the staff on the train not trained in give first aid, why was there no safety equipment on this train. > A third rate response from a third world country... shocking. hei John! the staff did their best and DID give the first aid although many of them were injured themselves. they used everything they could to carry people out and help them. together with the passengers that could help. why it took 1,5 hours for the help to arrive? you have not been in Russia you don't know how is it to live in a small village in this huge country. it happened in the forest not far from a small village. you think there is a professional hospital there with several ambulance cars and direct roads to the tragedy place? you think you can get to every place by car as well as by train etc? the man on duty at the nearest substation heard the explosion, saw the tragedy, called for help, that tiny substation was used as a minihospital until the help arrived. 1,5 hours was very quick actually.. the third world country? didn'd something like this happened in Spain? in other "not third world countries"? was USA prepaired for the 9.11? think in the scale of a tragedy before you write such things.