French police suspect train derailment was sabotage: police source

A train derailment in northwest France left 44 injured, and investigators suspect that this gravely incident was the result of sabotage, a police source told on Saturday.

A fragment of rail was found on the track, with the possibility of a malicious act being treated as the main line of inquiry as a result, the source said.Carrying 186 passengers, the train was running between the Normandy cities of Rouen and Caen when it derailed around 7:45 pm Friday.

Authorities activated a mass-casualty response plan, with 130 firefighters, five medical teams and 80 vehicles drafted in. The Rouen prosecutor said 44 people were injured including an 18-year-old woman evacuated "in a critical condition", while tests for drugs and alcohol on the train driver had come back negative.