The freight train that caused a deadly explosion after a derailment of tanks in the Bulgarian village of Hitrino was moving at an excessively high speed at the time of the incident, a probe shows.

Data from the train's speed recorders, however, is not enough to point to the speed as a root cause for the derailment and the subsequent explosion, Boyko Skrobanski, who heads the Railway Accident Investigation Unit with Bulgaria's Transport Ministry, has told the Bulgarian National Radio.

More inspections are needed to establish the causes as apart from the train and waggons, the railway infrastructure, the electricity lines and other factors should also be taken into account.

Emergency teams have yet to drain the transported dangerous fuels out of the cisterns before a proper investigation is to take place on the ground, Skrobanski has made it clear.

Seven people died in Hitrino and twenty-nine were injured after a dozen tanks derailed from a cargo train and one of them exploded.

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