The Crimean Bridge, a key and symbolic infrastructure linking Russia with the peninsula annexed in 2014 at Ukraine’s expense, reopened to road and rail traffic after being partially destroyed on Saturday by a huge explosion attributed by Moscow to a truck bomb.
“Rail traffic on the Crimean bridge has been fully restored,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khousnulline told reporters, the Ria Novosti agency reported, without specifying the time.
“All scheduled trains will pass through,” he added. He clarified in his Telegram account that this recovery affected both “passenger and cargo trains.” “We have the technical capabilities for that,” he said.
A railway line operator had announced a few hours earlier that two trains had already left for Moscow and St. Petersburg.
“There is no shortage” in sight, according to Moscow
Crimean authorities announced on Saturday afternoon that car and bus traffic had resumed on the single lane of the bridge that remained intact. This has been confirmed by Marat Khousnoulline, specifying that the second track would be operational again “in the near future” and that the conclusions of the observations made on Saturday on the damaged parts would be known this Sunday.
Ferries will take over, especially for the crossing of heavy vehicles. “We do not foresee a shortage,” the deputy prime minister said.
Russian news agency Tass had earlier reported that rail traffic had fully resumed for passengers and freight, but with delays.
At least 3 dead
CCTV footage shared on social media showed a powerful explosion as multiple vehicles crossed the bridge, including a truck that Russian authorities suspect was the source of the blast. In other shots, we can see a convoy of tank cars on fire on the railway part of the bridge, and two spans of one of the two lanes of the highway collapsed.
According to investigators, three people were killed in the early morning attack: the truck driver and two people who were driving near the explosion and whose bodies were pulled from the water.
Built at great expense on the orders of Vladimir Putin to connect the annexed peninsula to Russian territory, the Crimean Bridge is used in particular to transport military equipment from the Russian army fighting in Ukraine. Russia has launched an investigation to identify the origin of the explosion.
Source: BFM TV
