Russia says two killed in ’emergency’ on Crimea bridge
Moscow, July 17 (EFE).- A couple was killed and their daughter injured in an “emergency” that occurred on the Crimea Bridge on Monday morning, the governor of Belgorod region in southern Russia, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said.
The governor said that the girl, who was “moderately injured,” would be moved to Belgorod region once the doctors allowed it.
“In recent days, we have been sending our children to the Crimean camps,” Gladkov said on Telegram.
“Nothing threatens their lives,” he added.
Sergei Aksyonov, the governor of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, said on Monday that traffic was stopped on the Crimea Bridge due to an “emergency” in the area after at least two explosions were heard and damage to the road subsequently detected.
“Traffic was stopped on the Crimean bridge: an emergency occurred in the area on the 145th support from the Krasnodar Territory,” the official said on Telegram.
Russia’s Transport Ministry said in a statement that “there is damage to the roadway on the spans of the Crimean Bridge,” state-owned news agency Tass reported.
However, “the structures of the spans themselves are on their supports,” it added, without confirming earlier media reports about damage to the bridge’s supports.
Russian telegram channel Astra had reported that a stretch of the bridge had collapsed after at least two explosions were heard, according to residents.
Russian social network VKontakte also reported that locals heard two explosions around 00:04 and 00:20 GMT.
In October last year, five people died after an explosives-laden truck exploded on the bridge, considered the longest in Europe with a length of 19 kilometers (12 miles). EFE
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