CHISINAU (Reuters) – Six grain wagons in a 61-car train headed for a Ukrainian river port derailed in Moldova on Saturday as extreme heat weakened the rails, the country’s railway system said.
“The preliminary cause of the accident is the extremely high temperature, which caused the rails to lose their strength,” the Moldovan railway said in a statement.
It said six wagons carrying grain derailed while the train was on a section of the Culma-Ceadir-Lunga line and headed for Reni, a Ukrainian transport hub on the Danube.
Moldovan farmers, who traditionally export grain and oilseeds to Romania and Turkey, are ready to export 800,000 tons of a strong wheat crop of 1.2 million tons this year.
(Reporting by Alexander Tanas)
