Bridge collapses, derails in two Russian regions bordering Ukraine, killing 7 people
Russian authorities said earlier Sunday that the two bridges collapsed in different areas bordering Ukraine, derailed and killed at least seven people and injured dozens.
Reuters cannot independently confirm whether the incidents in neighboring areas are relevant.
The region’s acting state governor Alexander Khinshtein said in a telegram that the collapse in the Kursk region occurred earlier on Sunday when freight trains crossed the bridge.
“Part of the train landed on the road under the bridge,” Khinshtein said, adding that the locomotive caused a fire and was quickly extinguished. Khinshtein added that one of the drivers suffered a leg injury and he and the train’s team were taken to a local hospital.
He posted a picture of a derailed carriage on the damaged bridge on the road. Andrei Klishas, a senior member of the Federal Council of the House of Lords of the Russian Parliament, said on the telegram messaging app.
Russian emergency ministry and regional officials said it was in an earlier incident late Saturday when seven people were killed and 69 injured when a highway bridge collapsed on rails and derailed in an upcoming train in the Bryansk region.
Russia’s railway was originally posted on the telegram messaging app, the collapse of the Bryansk Bridge was the result of “illegal intervention in transportation”, but the post was later deleted.
Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz said in a telegram that 47 people were hospitalized. He said one of the three children was in serious condition.
The southern part of Russia was frequently attacked by Ukraine when Russia began its full-scale invasion three years ago.
Russia’s Baza Telegram channel frequently publishes information from sources from security services and law enforcement, and provides no evidence that Bryansk Bridge has been bombed based on preliminary information.
Reuters cannot independently verify the conference report. Ukraine did not comment immediately.
Since the beginning of the war in February 2022, cross-border shelling, drone strikes and secret raids have been carried out from Ukraine to the Bryansk, Kursk and Bergorod regions bordering Ukraine.
Telegrams in Russia during the emergency said efforts to find and rescue victims in the Bryansk incident continued throughout the evening with about 180 personnel involved in the operation.
Russian state news agency quoted medical staff as saying that the person killed was a motorcycle driver.
Social media pictures and videos show passengers trying to help others climb out of the damaged carriage of the Bryansk train in the dark and firefighters to find ways to reach passengers.
Russian Railways said the trains were from the town of Krimawo to Moscow. Bogomaz said it collided with a collapsed bridge in the federal highway area in the Vygonichskyi area of the Bryansk region. The area is about 100 km away from the border with Ukraine.
U.S. President Donald Trump urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together to end the war, and Russia proposed a second round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials in Istanbul on Monday.
Ukraine has not yet promised to attend the talks, saying he needs to see Russia’s proposal first, while the leading U.S. senator warned Moscow that it would be “hard” by the new U.S. sanctions.
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