The worst train accident France has seen in years was caused by a rail joint that wiggled free from a track switching point, according to a statement from the national rail company released on Saturday.
The train, which carried hundreds of passengers in the city of Limoges, crashed at Bretigny-sur-Orge station just outside of Paris after it suddenly derailed on Friday.
After railway experts checked out the tracks on Saturday, they found that a metal clip that conjoins two rails as part of the switch, moving trains from one track to another, had pried loose and was broken off from its usual position. Pierre Izard, director for infrastructure at the national rail company S.N.C.F. told the New York Times that this was what caused the derailment.
"It broke away, became detached and came out of its housing," Izard said during a media conference at the site of the accident. "It moved into the center of the switch, and in this position it prevented the normal passage of the train's wheels and seems to have caused the derailment."
Guillaume Pepy, who heads up the S.N.C.F., said that workers would do double checks on the state of 5,000 corresponding switches on the line.
The seven-car train broke in half, and some cars rode up the platform, then somersaulted, according to the New York Times.
Six people died while two were in critical condition, and seven more were labeled as being in serious condition.
More than 190 people received medical treatment on-site.
Emergency response officials at the location of the crash said the number of deceased might increase, as more people may be buried beneath the flipped cars.
The accident was so serious that French President Francois Hollande canceled his plans for the holiday weekend to attend to affairs at home.
He and Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault traveled to Bretigny-sur-Orge on Friday night to meet the victims, their families, and shake hands with rescue workers, as they swore that a full investigation would be conducted on this tragic crash.
Friday at noon, a minute of silence was observed on all French trains and in every station for the victims of the crash.
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