Explosions caused 2 bridges in western Russia to collapse, officials say, 7 people were killed

Explosions cause bridge collapses and train derailments in western Russia, sparking fears of terrorism and sabotage.

Explosions caused two bridges to collapse and derailed two trains in western Russia overnight, officials said on Sunday (June 1, 2025), without saying what had caused the blasts. In one of the incidents, seven people were killed and dozens were injured.

The first bridge, in the Bryansk region on the border with Ukraine, collapsed on top of a passenger train on Saturday, causing the casualties. The train's driver was among those killed, state-run Russian Railways said.

Hours later, officials said a second train derailed when the bridge beneath it collapsed in the nearby Kursk region, which also borders Ukraine.

In that collapse, a freight train was thrown off its rails onto the road below as the explosion collapsed the bridge, local acting Gov. Alexander Khinshtein said Sunday. The crash sparked a fire, but there were no casualties, he said.

Russia’s Investigative Committee, the country’s top criminal investigation agency, said in a statement that explosions had caused the two bridges to collapse, but did not give further details. It said that it would be investigating the incidents as potential acts of terrorism.

Rescue workers cleared debris from both sites, while some of those injured were transported to Moscow for treatment. Photos posted by government agencies in Bryansk appeared to show train carriages ripped apart and lying amid fallen concrete from the collapsed bridge. Other footage on social media was apparently taken from inside vehicles on the road that had managed to avoid driving onto the bridge before it collapsed.

Damage to railway tracks was also found Sunday by inspectors working on the line elsewhere in the Bryansk region, Moscow Railways said in a statement. It did not say whether the damage was linked to the collapsed bridges.