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Nine dead in Russia blast
![(170403) -- ST PETERSBURG, April 3, 2017 (Xinhua) -- The photo taken on April 3, 2017 shows the blast site at a metro station in St. Petersburg, Russia. At least 10 people were killed, 50 injured and 7 stations were shut down after blasts. (Xinhua/vk.com/car crash and accident in St. Petersburg) (gl) (Newscom TagID: xnaphotos738861.jpg) [Photo via Newscom]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tal6nS6lvGq6gvSEOoC40_vTopHOZ1-xXKHc3v7XvaX-6r3LXVL8cCUx72plJONLdUjMfM3n7VeM5Go5FeWm6OpXD4obrpT-2vTi4vVbjPwPzjTxGcN_tGFXqMc0-8PNH5sFVS5MfGJk0PenEIM-B9ASdv6Zsxj9YTkEP_RFl6IwTG7PQe-iVfNA=s0-d)
Breaking News
About 50 injured in St. Petersburg metro explosion
St. Petersburg metro explosion: 11 dead in Russia blast
Story highlights
- Unidentified explosive device behind blast, official says
- President Putin was in St. Petersburg earlier Monday
- Prosecutor General calls blast a 'terrorist attack'
Moscow (CNN)Eleven
people were killed in a blast on the St. Petersburg metro on Monday,
the Russian health ministry said, in what authorities described as a
terrorist attack.
An explosion
tore through a train as it was traveling between two stations in
Russia's second-biggest city, injuring dozens more.
A
second device was found and defused another station, Russia's
Anti-terrorist Committee said. No group has so far claimed
responsibility for the attack, which led to the shutdown of the entire
metro system in St. Petersburg.
Latest developments
- An unidentified explosive device was cause of explosion.
- Explosion happened in a train car as it passed through a tunnel.
- Entire metro system shut down after evacuations.
- Dozens injured, several in critical condition, authorities said.
- Second device found at another metro station, now disabled.
- President Putin was in St. Petersburg before explosion.
The aftermath of the explosion at Tekhnologichesky Institute subway station.
The
blast happened as the train was in a tunnel between the Sennaya
Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institute stations in the center of the
city. In the confusion, first reports suggested there were two blasts.
A
spokesman for the National Anti-terrorism Committee said that the blast
was caused by an unidentified explosive device in one of the train's
cars.
"So far, we say it was an
unidentified explosive device as investigators and the Federal Security
Service's bomb specialists are to establish the exact cause of this
explosion," Andrei Przhezdomsky told state-run Russia 24.
A second device was found at another metro station -- Revolutionary Square -- but was disabled, the committee said in statement.
The Prosecutor General's office in St. Petersburg called the explosion a terrorist attack, TASS reported.
Thirty-nine people have been hospitalized, six of whom with critical injuries, the health ministry said.
'We expected death'
Images
of the car shows the facade had been ripped off, while others showed
passengers running from the site at the station filled with smoke.
Victims said they helped each other escape the train and that they were
preparing for the worst possible situation.
"In
the metro car, everyone expected death, if I can say that. After the
explosion, everyone expected consequences. Then we were taken out, and
people began to help each other, brought others out. Most were covered
in blood," a passenger on the train told TASS.
People run after an explosion at a St Petersburg metro station.
Bodies
were seen in images strewn across a station platform outside the train.
Bandaged and bloodied victims were photographed being carried out of
the Tekhnologichesky Institute station by rescuers.
Another passenger at the Sennaya station, Stanislav Listyev, said he felt the explosion and saw smoke coming out of the tunnel.
"I
was going going down the escalator at Sennaya square at about half past
2, and at that moment I felt an explosion wave underneath. Everything
was filled with smoke, people started panicking. So the trains stopped
and almost immediately the evacuation started," he told CNN.
The
source who confirmed the explosion to TASS said preliminary information
indicated that around 10 people were killed, adding that the exact
number of victims was still being established. The death toll was later
revised to 11.
Russian
President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences to the victims and
is talking to the FSB security services about the investigation,
according to state media.
He said he was not ruling out any causes.
"The
reasons for the explosion are unknown, so it's too early to talk about
it. The investigation will show what happened," Putin said, beginning a
meeting with Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko.
"Naturally, we always consider all options -- both domestic and criminal, primarily incidents of a terrorist nature."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had been in St. Petersburg speaking at an event earlier Monday.
The
St. Petersburg metro has five lines and 67 stations. It transports 2.3
million people a day and has more than 1,600 train cars.
What happened?
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev described the explosion as a "terrorist act."
"Those
who suffered during the terrorist act in the St. Petersburg metro will
be provided with all the necessary assistance," he said in a message on
Facebook.
"My most sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims of the explosion. This is a common pain."
Viktor
Ozerov, chairman of the defense committee in the Federation Council,
said that the choice of St. Petersburg as a target may have been tied to
Putin's visit there for a media event.
The blast blew the door off one of the cars.
"The
choice of the place and the timing of these blasts is not accidental.
The president of Russia is in [St. Petersburg], the media forum is
taking place there, there are many journalists," Ozerov said.
Russia was once a hotspot for terror attacks but the country has experienced relatively few in recent years.
In
December 2013, a suicide bombing at a train station in Volgograd killed
at least 16 people. The following day, in the same city, a suicide
bombing on a trolley bus killed 14 people.
In
2010, two female suicide bombers blew themselves up at two Moscow metro
stations, killing 40. They were linked to the Chechen insurgency.
And in 2002, Chechen rebels killed 170 people in a theater hostage situation in the capital, Moscow.
CORRECTION:
An earlier version of this story attributed the terrorism motive to the
Russian prosecutor general. It was the city's prosecutor general.
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