Officials said the explosion caused two bridges to collapse in western Russia. 7 people were killed
Officials said Sunday that the explosion caused the two bridges to collapse and derail in western Russia, without saying what caused the explosion. In one of the incidents, seven people were killed and dozens were injured.
The first bridge in the Bryansk region of the border with Ukraine collapsed on a passenger train on Saturday, causing casualties. The state-owned Russian Railways said the driver of the train was killed by the Russian Railways.
Hours later, officials said it was the second train when it collapsed in the nearby Kursk region, which also bordered Ukraine.
Local acting state governor Alexander Khinshtein said Sunday that during that crash, the freight train was thrown from the tracks onto the road below. He said the crash caused a fire, but no casualties were found.
Russia’s investigation committee, the country’s top criminal investigation agency, said in a statement that the explosion collapsed the two bridges, but did not provide further details. It said it will investigate these incidents as potential acts of terrorism.
Rescuers cleared debris from both sites, while some of the injured were transported to Moscow for treatment. Photos released by Bryansk’s government agencies appear to show torn train carriages in the fallen concrete of the collapsed bridge. Other footage on social media was apparently taken from internal vehicles on the road, and these footage have managed to avoid driving before the bridge collapses.
Inspectors working elsewhere in the Bryansk region on Sunday also found damage to the railway tracks, Moscow Railway said in a statement. It did not say if the damage was related to the collapsed bridge.
In the past, some officials accused pro-Ukrainian saboteurs of attacking Russia’s railway infrastructure. However, the details surrounding such events are limited and cannot be independently verified.
Ukraine’s military intelligence is the abbreviation of Ukraine Gur said on Sunday that Russian military freight trains carrying food and fuel were blown up on their way to Crimea. It did not claim that the attack was conducted by Goul, nor did it mention the collapse of the bridge.
The statement said Moscow’s main arteries were destroyed with the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia region and Crimea.
Since the full-scale invasion of Moscow in February 2022, Russian troops have been entering the Zaporizhzhia region in eastern Ukraine.
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