Russia on Saturday opened a criminal probe into a blast that blew up a truck and heavily damaged a vital bridge linking Moscow-annexed Crimea to the mainland.
Russia’s investigative committee said it had “initiated a criminal case in connection with the incident on the Crimean bridge,” adding that “a truck was blown up”.
“According to preliminary information, this morning on the automobile part of the Crimean bridge from the side of the Taman Peninsula, a truck was blown up, which caused seven fuel tanks to ignite on a train heading towards the Crimea peninsula,” the committee said.
“As a result, two lanes partially collapsed.”
Dramatic videos on social media showed the giant bridge — hugely important to the Kremlin and inaugurated by President Vladimir Putin in 2018 — on fire and partially collapsing into the sea.
The investigative committee said it had sent detectives to the scene.
“Investigators of the Russian Investigative Committee are establishing all the circumstances of the incident and persons involved in the crime.”
Putin annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
