Russia reports 20 injured in train derailment in the far north

At least 20 people were injured on Wednesday when a passenger train derailed in Russia’s far north, authorities said.

The train traveled from the city of Vorkuta north of the Arctic Circle to the port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea in the south of the country.

The train derailed near the small town of Inta in the sparsely populated Komi Republic, which has a harsh climate.

Vladimir Uyba, head of the Komi Republic, said there were 215 passengers on board the train, adding: “20 people were injured, three are in serious condition.”

He said the last five carriages of the train had derailed, but authorities had not immediately provided any information about the cause of the accident.

Uyba said he flew to the scene of the accident by plane.

Pictures published by Russian state media showed several wagons lying on their sides in a ditch next to a forest.

The Vorkuta-Novorossiysk train takes almost five days to travel.

Traffic accidents are not uncommon in Russia. However, this is less the case on the railways, as the country is the largest in the world and has an extensive rail network.

Since the start of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine, the country has been battling a wave of acts of sabotage on its railway lines, which are used by the military to transport equipment to Ukraine.