At 2:20 P.M., an explosion went off in a St. Petersburg metro traveling from Technology Institute station to the Sennaya Ploshchad station. According to Russian officials, about 50 people were injured and another ten were proclaimed dead. President Vladimir Putin expressed his condolences is not yet ready to rule out the possibility of an act of terror. Viktor Ozerov, chairman of the defense committee in the Federation Council, states that St. Petersburg could have possibly been a target because of Putin’s presence for a media event. After some investigation, it was determined that the cause for the explosion was a bomb filled with shrapnel. At around 5:20 P.M., Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee found a second bomb in another St. Petersburg metro and deactivated it.
Fellow passengers helped victims escape the train; many were covered with blood or had singed hair. People all over the station, not just those in the train, were able to feel the explosion waves and see the smoke rising from the train. 17 ambulances rushed to the scene, and fire engines and helicopters arrived as well. All St. Petersburg stations were immediately shut down, and security measures are to be tightened in major transportation areas in Russia following the attacks.
