Train loaded with grain derails in Crimea due to outside intervention: Firm

“A freight train derailed as a result of the interference of unauthorized persons in the operation of railway transport. There are no casualties. There is no environmental threat,” the company said on Telegram.

The cars derailed on a railway stretch between the railway stations of Chistenkoe and Pochtovoe earlier in the day, Sergey Aksyonov, the head of the Republic of Crimea, specified.

The train traffic was immediately suspended and emergency trains were sent to the site, he added.

The Grand Service Express transportation company told Sputnik there had been no passenger trains in the area where the railway accident took place.

Crimean Transport Minister Nikolai Lukashenko stated that at least eight cars had derailed, adding that the traffic was expected to be resumed by Thursday evening.

Sergey Aksenov, the Moscow-appointed head of the peninsula, wrote on Telegram that wagons carrying grain “fell off the rails” in Simferopol. He later added that authorities were investigating.

Ukraine has not commented on the incident.

The Ukrainian military has in recent months carried out attacks in Crimea to harass the Russian Black Sea fleet and disrupt vital Russian supply lines. Ukrainian leaders have previously stated that their goal is to recapture Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.