by Kirill Velesov
[REGNUM] On the evening of May 31, in the Bryansk region, a road bridge collapsed onto passenger train No. 86 Klimov-Moscow passing underneath. There were 388 passengers on board. Seven people died. The tragedy occurred at 22:44 on the single-track Pilshino-Vygonichi section.
Several hours later, Governor Alexander Bogomaz said that the cause of the disaster was the explosion of the bridge. The version of the explosion was also later confirmed by experts from the Investigative Committee of Russia (SKR). The train did not have time to reach the Vygonichi station. Then the train was supposed to make a stop in the regional capital Bryansk.
By 11:00, the number of victims of the train crash had risen to 73, 44 of whom were hospitalized. Among the victims was a four-month-old child. As reported by the Regnum news agency, he was sent to Moscow by helicopter.
The driver of the truck, who was driving across the bridge at the time of the explosion, was also injured. According to eyewitnesses, the truck fell onto the locomotive.
Passengers of the Klimov-Moscow train were brought to the capital on a reserve train. They are being assisted by doctors and psychologists.
"WE THOUGHT SOMEONE PULLED THE EMERGENCY BRAKE"
The surviving passengers were met at the Kievsky railway station by correspondents from the Regnum news agency.
According to the son of one of the victims, information that people were being taken back to Moscow was only obtained from the Russian Railways information desk. Relatives were also unable to immediately contact their loved ones.
"Dad has bruises, he doesn't feel very well, so I came to meet him. It was impossible to get through on the phone for a long time. When I called, it was barely audible. He said: everything is fine, I'm on my way," the source told the publication.
Soon a train arrived, from which the young man's father got off. On the platform, he was examined by medical workers. According to the man, whose name is Fedor, the evacuation of the victims was organized, volunteers and employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations did everything possible for the safety of people. When the crash occurred, he fell from the second bunk of the eighth carriage.
"People were helping each other, getting out. In the carriage that overturned, they were shouting: help, help. The doors in our carriage were blocked, we were getting out through another carriage," he shared his experience with journalists from the Regnum news agency.
The sudden stop of the train made passengers think that someone had pulled the emergency brake, another victim said.
"We got off the train with our things and headed towards the highway. We helped the victims as best we could, bandaged their arms and legs. By that time, most of the people had been evacuated," the man said.
The Federal Passenger Company (FPC) promised to pay compensation to passengers, in addition, people will be awarded 20 thousand points under the RZD Bonus program.
According to Russian Railways, the locomotive driver died, and nine other train crew members were hospitalized.
The railway network of the border Bryansk region has been the target of sabotage attacks more than once. Thus, at about eight o'clock in the evening on May 2, 2023, a locomotive and 20 cars of a freight train derailed on the Snezhetskaya - Belye Berega section, southeast of Bryansk.
The train was traveling from Bryansk to Karachev. The cause of the disaster was the explosion of the railway tracks.
And the day before, saboteurs blew up the tracks at the 136th kilometer of the Bryansk-Unecha section. As a result, a locomotive and seven cars carrying fuel and building materials crashed.
CRASH IN KURSK REGION
A similar scenario occurred last night in the Kursk region on the 48th kilometer of the Trosna-Kalinovka highway in the Zheleznogorsk district while a freight locomotive was moving. There, a railway bridge collapsed onto the highway while a freight train was passing over it.
"According to preliminary information, one of the locomotive drivers has injured his legs - the entire team was taken to the hospital. They are under the supervision of doctors," said acting head of the region Alexander Khinshtein.
The burning locomotive was quickly extinguished by firefighters.
The conclusion of the investigators of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in both cases is unambiguous - a terrorist act. The investigation of criminal cases on explosions on the railway in the Bryansk and Kursk regions has begun, reported the official representative of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation Svetlana Petrenko.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was briefed throughout the night on the progress of the rescue operation and the initial findings of law enforcement investigators.
“Russian President Vladimir Putin received reports from the FSB and the Ministry of Emergency Situations throughout the night about what happened in the Kursk and Bryansk regions with the trains,” said the president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov.
By midday it became known that another section of the Bryansk region railway network had been blown up. The railway track on the Unecha-Zhecha section was blown up when a track-measuring train was passing through. Fortunately, no one was hurt, but this section of the track is closed to train traffic.