Two railway bridges collapsed just hours apart in separate regions of Russia, killing at least seven people and injuring dozens. One of the incidents is being investigated as possible sabotage, according to officials.
The first collapse happened late Saturday, May 31 in the Bryansk region, near the border with Ukraine. A road bridge fell onto a railway line at 10:44 p.m., causing a passenger train to derail.
Seven people were killed and at least 66 were injured, including three children, said Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz.
Videos on social media showed rescuers working at the scene and passengers crying for help. “How did the bridge collapse? There are children there!” one woman shouted in a video.
The train was traveling from the town of Klimovo to Moscow when the bridge collapsed on top of it. Russian Railways, the state-owned operator, blamed the incident on “illegal interference,” but gave no further details.
Photos released by officials showed a large section of the bridge broken across the railway, with several crushed vehicles and train cars nearby. Rescue workers continued efforts through the night.
Emergency services and repair trains were dispatched to the scene. Russian prosecutors said an investigation had begun, but officials have not said who may be behind the “illegal interference.”
Early Sunday morning, June 1, another bridge collapsed in the Kursk region, acting governor Alexander Khinshtein said. That bridge came down in the Zheleznogorsk district, around the 48th kilometer of the Trosna-Kalinovka railway.
The bridge collapsed as a freight train was passing. Part of the train fell onto the road below, and a diesel locomotive caught fire. The blaze was quickly put out.
All locomotive crew members were hospitalized. One suffered leg injuries. The highway beneath the bridge remains closed.
The cause of the Kursk collapse is still unknown, officials said.
Russia has faced dozens of railway sabotage incidents since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Officials have not directly blamed Ukraine for the latest incidents, but suspicions are high as similar acts have occurred during the ongoing war. Kyiv has not commented.
The bridge collapses come just days ahead of a possible Russia-Ukraine meeting in Istanbul, part of new peace efforts led by the United States.