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Crimea college blast kills 13 in ‘terrorist attack’ – officials
MOSCOW, Oct 17, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Thirteen people were killed and 50 more
wounded on Wednesday, most of them teenagers, after a blast tore into a
college canteen in Russian-annexed Crimea in what Moscow called a “terrorist”
attack.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major incidents, said it
had “opened a criminal case into a terrorist attack” after an “unidentified
explosive device” went off in the polytechnical college in Kerch city.
A committee spokeswoman said the death toll had risen to 13 after initial
reports 10 people were killed in the explosion that detonated at around 12
noon (0900 GMT).
Investigators said the explosive device went off in the college’s canteen
and that it was “packed with metal objects.”
“Currently we know of 13 dead and around 50 injured,” Investigative
Committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said in televised comments.
The “most of the (victims) are teenagers,” the committee said. The
college’s website says it accepts students in the last three grades of
school, from the age of 14.
An unnamed witness who worked nearby said in a video on Kerch.tv website
victims “were taken away in public transport, in minibuses and buses, with 2
or 3 people in each ambulance.”
“They are children and staff,” the witness said. “I saw people without
legs, without arms.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said President Vladimir Putin had been
informed of the “tragic news” from Kerch and that he “expresses deep
condolences to those who lost relatives and loved ones.”
Crimean leader Sergei Aksyonov said on Facebook he had gone to the scene
and “all the necessary services are working at the scene of the incident.”
The emergency services ministry said that it had flown out three
helicopters and a plane with rescuers.
Kerch is linked to the Russian mainland by a bridge opened by Putin in May
this year.
BSS/AFP/BZC/1810HRS