Ukraine war: Russia says three people dead in truck blast that damaged key Crimea bridge

Russian authorities said the blast caused seven railway cars carrying fuel to catch fire, resulting in a ‘partial collapse of two sections of the Kerch bridge’

President Putin had ordered the creation of a government panel to deal with the emergency, and an investigation into the incident

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A fire broke out on the Kerch bridge linking Crimea to Russia on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:23pm, 8 Oct 2022Updated: 10:41am, 9 Oct 2022

Russian authorities said on Saturday that three people were killed after a truck exploded on its bridge linking Moscow-annexed Crimea to Russia, adding that the owner of the vehicle had been identified.

“According to preliminary information, three people were killed,” Russia’s investigative committee said in a statement. It said they were likely to be “passengers of a car that was near the truck that exploded.”

The statement said the bodies of two victims – “a man and a woman” – had been lifted out of the water and that their identities were being confirmed, giving no details on the third body.

Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee said that the truck bomb caused seven railway cars carrying fuel to catch fire, resulting in a “partial collapse of two sections of the bridge.” The committee didn’t immediately apportion blame.

The attack on the bridge comes a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin turned 70, dealing him a humiliating blow that could lead him to likely to up the ante in his war on Ukraine.