A Russian passenger train travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg has been derailed by what is believed to be an improvised bomb, leaving sixty injured.

Russia officially announced the accident is suspected to be a terrorist attack and opened a criminal case under article 205, clause 3.

The accident occurred near the village of Malaya Vishera in Novgorod region, about 500km (310 miles) north of Moscow.

The bomb left a crater measuring about 1.5m (5 feet) in diameter and was found underneath one of the carriages.

The engine and 12 carriages of the train derailed just as it was about to cross a river bridge.

A total of 241 passengers are believed to have been aboard the Nevsky Express train, which has a twenty-strong crew. The crash left sixty injured, twenty-seven of whom have been hospitalised.

The traffic of dozens of trains from Moscow to St Petersburg was disrupted in the wake of the crash, which damaged about 700 meters of railway lines.

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