At least seven people have died and 31 others were injured after a highway bridge collapsed onto railway tracks in the Bryansk region of western Russia, near the Ukrainian border, authorities confirmed on Sunday.
The collapse occurred late Saturday night as several heavy trucks plunged from the bridge onto a moving passenger train traveling from Klimovo to Moscow. The collision caused multiple carriages to derail, triggering panic as passengers scrambled to escape the wreckage in the darkness.
Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said rescue operations are ongoing, with fire crews and emergency personnel working through the night to search for survivors. Additional equipment, including portable lighting towers and specialized rescue tools, was rushed to the scene, according to state news agency TASS.
Images circulated on social media showed twisted train cars and injured passengers helping one another amid the debris. Bryansk Governor Alexander Bogomaz confirmed the death toll in a post on Telegram, adding that a child and an adult were among those seriously injured. All wounded individuals have been transported to regional hospitals.
Moscow Railway, the operator of the affected route, said the incident was caused by “illegal interference in transport operations.” Authorities have launched a formal investigation, led by the interregional transport prosecutor’s office, to determine the cause of the collapse.
In a separate but potentially linked incident early Sunday morning, another bridge collapsed along the Trosna-Kalinovka highway in neighboring Kursk region. According to acting Kursk Governor Alexander Khinshtein, a freight train was on the bridge when it gave way. Several train cars fell onto the roadway and caught fire, injuring the train driver, who sustained leg wounds.
The back-to-back infrastructure failures have raised suspicions of sabotage, though officials have not confirmed any specific cause. Both Bryansk and Kursk regions, which border Ukraine, have remained under heightened security since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Passengers from the derailed train in Bryansk were safely evacuated and transported to a nearby station, where a replacement train was arranged to continue the journey to Moscow, according to railway officials.
Emergency crews continue to assess the damage and search for additional victims, as investigators work to uncover the circumstances behind the dual bridge collapses.
