The surveillance video is hard to watch. A city bus races toward a bridge in St. Petersburg, takes a sharp turn onto it, swerves across lanes and clips another vehicle. Then it smashes through the barrier and drops into the river.
Seven people died in the crash on Friday, Russia’s Investigative Committee reported. The committee did not say how many others were hurt, but the emergencies ministry had earlier said six people pulled from the bus were in critical or serious condition. Russian news reports put between 15 and 20 people on board. Six climbed out of the water on their own.
Bystanders rushed in. One witness, speaking in Russian, said they “just dove in with their clothes on and helped.” Another thought it looked like “either he was steering erratically or the brakes failed.”
Questions about the bus and its driver
Police detained the driver. Russian media quoted his wife as saying managers made him work a morning shift after he had put in 20 hours the day before and slept hardly at all. That account comes from his family and has not been tested.
The bus’s owner had been fined 23 times for various violations, authorities in St. Petersburg said. Private companies operate most of the city’s bus services.
Authorities opened a criminal investigation into alleged traffic violations and unsafe travel services.
Sources
Sources
- Video shows bus plunge off a bridge St. Petersburg, Russia, killing 7
- Seven passengers killed when bus plunges from bridge into river
