Crimea’s Kerch Bridge blast kills two; Russia alleges terrorism

Russian authorities have described an incident on the Kerch bridge in the annexed peninsula of Crimea as an act of terrorism.

News Agency of Nigeria • July 17, 2023

Kerch Bridge (Credit: EuracTIV)

Russian authorities have described an incident on the Kerch Bridge in the annexed peninsula of Crimea as an act of terrorism.

The incident, described earlier by the local administration as an “emergency’’ caused traffic to be halted on the heavily-used bridge. The Ukrainian secret service SBU commented on the apparent explosion on the bridge to the Black Sea peninsula.

“Once again, the bridge has gone to sleep,’’ the intelligence agency said on Monday.

The SBU had admitted involvement in a previous attack on the bridge last autumn.

The head of the parliament in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, Vladimir Konstantinov, blamed Ukraine for the new attack.

“Tonight Kyiv’s terror regime committed a new crime and attacked the Crimean bridge,’’ he wrote on his Telegram channel.

There were reports of an explosion on the bridge in the early hours of Monday morning on social media networks, but the authorities did not give any further details.

Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov on Telegram, cited by state news agency TASS. According to a video message, those two persons (a man and a woman) from the Belgorod region in Russia died in their car during the incident.

Their daughter was reportedly injured.

The head of occupied Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, announced on Telegram early on Monday that traffic was stopped in the area of the bridge’s 145th support pier because of the emergency.

Mr Aksyonov said motorists should take an alternative land route through the Russian-occupied regions in southern Ukraine.

Russia later resumed rail traffic over the bridge, with a delay of around five hours, authorities said.

Car traffic over the 19-kilometre-long structure, however, remained suspended.

Kyiv has announced its intention to take back Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014 in violation of international law. The Kerch bridge was severely damaged in an explosion in October 2022 but was repaired.

Ukrainian intelligence has admitted involvement in that explosion.

Despite the tense situation and long security controls, Russian holidaymakers were flocking to Crimea, which can only be reached by train or car.

(dpa/NAN)

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