DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY,
Train veers off the tracks in Russia’s Bryansk region after ‘illegal interference’ caused a bridge to collapse, officials say.
A passenger train has derailed in Russia, killing at least seven people and injuring 30 others, after colliding with a bridge that collapsed because of what local officials described as “illegal interference”.
The incident took place late on Saturday in Russia’s Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine.
“Unfortunately, there are seven fatalities,” Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz said in a post on Telegram.
“Thirty victims, including two children, were taken to medical facilities in the Bryansk Region,” Bogomaz said, adding that two were in serious condition.
The driver of the train was among those killed, according to Russian news agencies.
Rosavtodor, Russia’s federal road transportation agency, said the destroyed bridge passed above the railway tracks where the train was travelling.
The railway vehicle – which was going from the town of Klimov to the Russian capital, Moscow – veered off the tracks when it collided with the collapsed bridge near the village of Vygonichi, according to the RIA news agency.
The area lies some 100km (62 miles) from Russia’s border with Ukraine.
Rescuers were searching for passengers trapped inside the damaged train, while emergency accommodation was set up at a school in Vygonichi, RIA reported.
Moscow Railway, in a post on Telegram, said the bridge had collapsed “as a result of an illegal interference in the operation of transport”.
It did not elaborate further.
Russia’s Baza Telegram channel, which often publishes information from sources in the security services and law enforcement, reported, without providing evidence, that according to preliminary information, the bridge was blown up.
Explosions have derailed multiple trains, most of them freight trains, in Russian regions near Ukraine as fighting between Russia and Ukraine continues.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Two hours after the bridge collapse was reported, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that Ukraine’s air defence units were trying to repel a Russian air attack on the Ukrainian capital.
Earlier on Saturday, Russian drone and missile attacks killed at least two people in Ukraine, officials said.
Since the start of Russia’s invasion three years ago, there have been continued cross-border shelling, drone strikes and covert raids from Ukraine into Russia’s Bryansk, Kursk and Belgorod regions, which border Ukraine.
United States President Donald Trump has urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end the war, and Russia has proposed a second round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials next week in Istanbul.
Ukraine is yet to commit to attending the talks on Monday, saying it first needs to see Russian proposals, while a leading US senator warned Moscow it would be “hit hard” by new US sanctions.