LOS ANGELES — Sabotage may have caused a freight train to jump off its tracks on a steep mountain grade and explode in flames, killing two people, it was reported Sunday.
FBI spokesman John Hoos confirmed that the agency had been called in by the National Transportation Safety Board to assist in the investigation.
The Los Angeles Times, citing anonymous sources, reported that there was evidence of possible sabotage in the Feb. 1 derailment between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
There was evidence that the brakes on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train had failed as the train started down a steep grade, the Federal Railroad Administration has said.
The train, which was carrying dangerous chemicals, apparently accelerated to between 50 m.p.h. and 60 m.p.h., about four times the authorized speed, before 45 of the 49 cars plunged off the rails on a curve and burst into flames.