MOSCOW: Russian intelligence officers said Saturday that the derailment of a luxury train that killed at least 26 people and injured dozens more was caused by a bomb blast.

The Nevsky Express, en route to St. Petersburg from Moscow, derailed Friday night near the town of Bologoye on the border between the Tver and Novgorod regions.

Previous reports say the death toll from the crash was 39.

Police officers stand guard at the site of a train derailment near the village of Uglovka, about 400 km (249 miles) northwest of Moscow, November 28, 2009. At least 25 people were killed and 95 more injured when a Russian express train came off the rails late on Friday in what the national railway company said could have been a bomb attack. [Agencies]

   
"The figure is 39," an official from the ministry told Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu on a video conference aired live on the Vesti-24 news channel.
  
The Nevsky Express, carrying 661 passengers from Moscow to St Petersburg, was derailed at 9:34 p.m. (1834 GMT) near the village of Uglovka about 350 km (200 miles) north of Moscow.

Paramedics wait at Moskovsky train station in St. Petersburg November 28, 2009. Twenty-two people were killed and 55 more injured when a Russian train crashed on Friday, in what officials said could have been an act of terrorism. Four carriages of the luxury train travelling from Moscow to St Petersburg were derailed near the town of Bologoye some 350 km (200 miles) from Moscow. [Agencies]

Four carriages of the train went off the tracks near the town of Bologoye on the border between the Tver and Novgorod regions, Russian Railways said.

Local TV showed that an emergency official at the scene of the incident told Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu in a video link that up to six persons may remain under the debris. The official warned that the death toll might grow.

Russian Railways said the reason behind the accident was not yet clear, but the derailment could have been caused by an act of terrorism.

The Interfax news agency cited an unnamed source with Moscow's law enforcement agencies as saying that a one meter-diameter hole was found near the scene of the accident.

"Witnesses heard a loud bang before the accident. All this could point to a possible attack," the source said.

A bomb attack hit the same line in 2007, injuring dozens of passengers.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has instructed Shoigu to take all necessary measures to extend assistance to those affected, the Kremlin said.

Medvedev has also ordered federal security service FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov and Prosecutor-General Yuri Chaika to investigate into the cause of the disaster.

Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin rushed to the scene, where ambulances, rescuers, FSB officers, law enforcers, and railroad specialists are working.

Injured passengers have been sent to hospitals in nearby towns, Russian Railways said. Those not injured left the site by cars, buses and another train heading for St. Petersburg.

The railroad monopoly said trains will move along a bypass route to keep railroad communication between the two largest Russian cities running.

The route between Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia's second biggest city, is heavily traveled by tourists and business people.

The 14-carriage train was carrying 633 passengers and 20 railway personnel, the emergency situations ministry said.