Race war

Another passenger bus was blown up in the Stavropol Territory

In the city of Nevinnomyssk, Stavropol Territory, an Ikarus regular bus, traveling along the Pyatigorsk-Stavropol route, exploded last night. As a result, two people were killed and five more were injured and burned. It was literally a miracle that a larger number of victims were avoided - a minute before the explosion, a bus with more than 30 people on board arrived at a stop, where a significant part of the passengers left the cabin. The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB worked at the scene of the emergency all night, trying to establish the cause of the explosion. The version of the terrorist attack was considered as the main one. At the end of November, a similar terrorist attack on the Kabardino-Balkaria border claimed the lives of five people.

The explosion at the Nevinnomyssk bus station occurred at about 16.30 a minute or two after the Ikarus, traveling along the Pyatigorsk-Stavropol route, stopped at the platform. The roof of the car was almost completely torn off and it was engulfed in flames. At that moment, out of 32 passengers, only a few people remained in the cabin - the rest managed to get out. The driver also got out of the car and headed to the control room.

The arriving units of the Ministry of Emergency Situations managed to extinguish the fire that had started within 15 minutes. However, the interior of the bus was almost completely burned out. Among the charred debris, firefighters found the bodies of two dead. According to preliminary information, these are two women. Investigators were able to establish their identities using the documents found, but the names of the victims were not disclosed until the official identification procedure.

In addition, five more people were injured as a result of the explosion - three women and two men who were standing or passing next to the bus. One of the wounded women was sent to intensive care. She suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, the city health department said.

Yesterday, employees of the Federal Security Service and the regional police department worked at the scene of the explosion until late evening. According to preliminary information, the epicenter of the explosion was in the rear seat area. Operatives named the two most likely versions of the emergency: a terrorist attack and careless handling of explosives. Experts had just begun examining the bus yesterday and were still at a loss to say what exactly caused the explosion, and did not even dare to estimate its power.

Yesterday, the Governor of the Stavropol Territory, Alexander Chernogorov, held a meeting at which, in addition to the issue of providing material assistance to the victims, the issue of strengthening transport security was also resolved.

This is the second explosion of a passenger bus in the North Caucasus recently. On November 22, on the border of North Ossetia and Kabardino-Balkaria, an explosion occurred in a passenger bus en route to Vladikavkaz from the same Pyatigorsk. Then, as a result of the explosion, five people were killed and 13 were hospitalized. The investigation regarded what happened then as a terrorist attack.

Eduard LOMOVTSEV