BREAKING: Explosion Reportedly Destroys Part of Bridge Connecting Russia and Crimea

According to Russian news agency Tass, an explosion occurred early Saturday morning on Europe’s longest bridge, which connects Russia and Crimea.

“An object believed to be a fuel storage tank has caught fire on the Crimean Bridge, but the viaduct’s navigable arches sustained no damage, an aide to the head of Crimea, Oleg Kryuchkov, said on Saturday,” according to the news outlet.

“According to preliminary information, a fuel storage tank is on fire… Navigable arches were not damaged. It is too early to speak about causes and consequences. Work to extinguish the blaze is underway,” Kryuchkov wrote in his Telegram channel.

Per Wikipedia:

The Crimean Bridge, also called Kerch Strait Bridge or Kerch Bridge, is a pair of now partly destroyed parallel bridges, one road, one rail, spanning the Kerch Strait between the Taman Peninsula of Krasnodar Krai in Russia and the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea in Ukraine. The bridge was built by Russia after it annexed Crimea at the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War in 2014. It cost 3.7 billion dollars, has a length of 19 km (12 mi), making it the longest bridge Russia has ever built, and the longest bridge in Europe. Besides transportation, Russia intended the bridge to support its claims to Crimea.

From The Guardian:

The Kerch bridge from Russia to Crimea, a hated symbol of the Kremlin’s occupation of the southern Ukrainian peninsula and one of Vladimir Putin’s prestige projects, has been hit by a huge explosion.

Images from the bridge showed a fiercely burning fire engulfing at least two railway carriages from a train on the bridge, accompanied by a vast column of black smoke, and one half of the parallel road bridge collapsed into the Kerch Strait.

The explosion, which witnesses said could be heard miles away, occurred before 6am on Saturday while a train was crossing the bridge, with Russian officials blaming it on a car bomb.

“Today at 6.07am (03.07 GMT) on the road traffic side of the Crimean bridge … a car bomb exploded, setting fire to seven oil tankers being carried by rail to Crimea,” Russian news agencies said, citing the national anti-terrorism committee, although that claim could not immediately be verified.

Some footage, however, shared on Russian Telegram channels and news agencies appeared to show the moment of the explosion with two vehicles, a truck and a car, at the centre of the blast, although it was unclear whether either was responsible or simply caught up in the detonation.

According to Telegraph, 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.”

“Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee says a 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 outlet reported.

Here’s footage from the reported explosion:

BREAKING: Surveillance video shows massive explosion on the Crimean Bridge pic.twitter.com/jo3yZK3L0I

— BNO News (@BNONews) October 8, 2022

Closer look at the collapsed road span of the Crimean bridge pic.twitter.com/ZW1OOAKdns

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) October 8, 2022

Closer footage of the fire on the Crimean bridge pic.twitter.com/SoxDNbBUt4

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) October 8, 2022

Video of damage to the Crimean Bridge. https://t.co/roEjIKH19B pic.twitter.com/DwsS5O625g

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) October 8, 2022

Footage reportedly of the explosion that hit the Crimean Bridge pic.twitter.com/qQR6nhsb6B

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) October 8, 2022