According to the latest data, and this official update, nine people have become victims of today's terrorist attack in the St. Petersburg subway. More than 30 have been wounded, six are in critical condition. A homemade bomb exploded midday, when the train was leaving the Tekhnologichesky Institut station. Later, another explosive device was found and disarmed at the Ploshchad Vosstaniya station.
Now, investigators are working underground. The subway is closed. Mourning is declared in the city. Salima Zarif, the head of our bureau in St. Petersburg, reports on the chronicle of events and the first versions. The windows are broken, the doors were pulled out by a blast wave. Metal twisted in a knot and pools of blood. 2:36 p.m. is the time that is shown on the electronic clock on the first shots, made by eyewitnesses. I was just deafened. I just fell into the dark. Have you seen the flame? The flame was bright. People had their hair burned to the roots. Half of the people were burnt. It was scary, to be honest, I have never seen something like this. When I came closer, those who were seriously injured have already been taken out of the subway. I asked a couple of people who felt more or less ok.
But even there they said that everyone tried to stick together, to help, and motivate each other to get out of this hell faster. Smoke clouds the eyes and lungs. It's hard to breathe. The visibility is poor. The explosion took place in the middle of the third car. The metal covering is piled up and turned inside out. But there were people who dared to enter the car to take the wounded out. I'm here! Call the ambulance! Call the ambulance! Two central junction stations of the St. Petersburg subway. 2:40 p.m. is the time when schoolchildren and students go back home.
The explosion took place in the tunnel between Tekhnologichesky Institut and Sennaya Ploshchad, but the machinist took the most important decision, not to stop the train until it arrived to the platform. If he had acted differently, the evacuation would have been difficult, and there could have been more casualties. When people have bomb-explosive injuries, every second counts. There are more than 20 wounded. They are brought by helicopters to the following hospitals: City Hospital №26, Mariinskaya Hospital, and The Saint Petersburg Research Institute of Emergency Medicine n.a. I.I. Dzhanelidze.
The subway, station by station, is being completely closed. The city is learning about what happened. Near the subway, there are crying people who are trying to find out about their relative's fate. There is no connection. My daughter... She was supposed to leave school at this time. There is no connection. Bomb-disposal expert brigades are inspecting the subway. At the Ploshchad Vosstaniya station, this is where the Moscow railway station is located, another homemade explosive device filled with shrapnel was found. It was disarmed just in time.
As a result of the measures taken by law enforcement agencies at the Ploshchad Vosstaniya station, a homemade explosive device was found and duly disarmed. Special services and law enforcement agencies continue to take operational measures to identify and stop terrorist threats. A group of experienced investigators and criminologists from the central office of the Investigative Committee was sent to St. Petersburg. An operational investigation team continues to work at the emergency site. Despite the fact that the criminal case was initiated under the article "Terrorist Attack", the investigation intends to check all other possible versions of this incident.
The whole area near the Tekhnologichesky Institut subway station is still full of emergency vehicles. Explosion technologists and experts are working underground. They are collecting evidence to reconstruct the accident. The investigation will work out all the versions. The criminal case was initiated under the article "Terrorism".
