FORTALEZA, July 15. /ITAR-TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences to the families of the people killed in the Moscow metro train crash, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The president wished all those injured in the accidents to get better soon, Peskov added.
Putin is in Fortaleza, Brazil, to take part in the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) summit.
The accident occurred around 9am on Tuesday. According to the Russian Emergencies Ministry (EMERCOM), the train going from the city center stopped abruptly between the Park Pobedy and Slavyansky Bulvar stations. Three metro train cars derailed as a result of the incident. Metro train traffic has been halted on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya blue metro line, and its power supply is cut off.
Twenty people died in the accident. Some 129 people injured in the Moscow metro train crash have been hospitalized, including 42 people in a grave condition, the Health Ministry said.
Investigators are considering several possible causes of the train derailment in the Moscow metro. All possible causes of the accident are technical, there are no grounds to suspect a terrorist attack, Russia’s Investigative Committee spokesperson Vladimir Markin said. Markin also confirmed that the power surge is not considered as a possible cause of the accident.
Moscow's Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that a day of mourning would be declared on Wednesday, July 16, in memory of the metro crash victims.