French police suspect Normandy train derailment was result of sabotage

BREAKING: French police suspect sabotage caused a train derailment in Normandy that injured at least 44 people, after a fragment of rail was found on the track.

French police suspect sabotage derailed a train in Normandy.

Forty four people were injured when the train came off the tracks Friday evening between Rouen and Caen, and an eighteen year old woman was evacuated in a critical condition. This was the scene that night, emergency crews working in the dark near Cleon. The train was carrying 186 passengers when it derailed around a quarter to eight.

The response was massive, 130 firefighters, five medical teams, 80 vehicles. Then came the detail that changed everything. Investigators found a fragment of rail on the track, and a police source says a malicious act is now the main line of inquiry. The Rouen prosecutor confirmed the driver tested clean for drugs and alcohol.

SNCF has suspended traffic on the line and cut power to the tracks. If this was deliberate, someone tried to derail a passenger train with 186 people on board. That is the question French investigators now have to answer.

This is Liu Yang, reporting for HIT.