Posted on 05/10/2024 8:35:32 PM PDT by lowbridge
A bus veered off a bridge and plunged into a river on Friday in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, killing seven people, officials said.
The Investigative Committee, Russia’s top criminal investigations body, reported the death toll. It did not state how many others were injured, but the emergencies ministry earlier said that six people removed from the bus were in critical or serious condition.
Russian news reports said there were 15 people on the city bus when it broke through a barrier and plunged into the Moika River in central St. Petersburg. Six of those who were onboard climbed out of the water on their own.
A surveillance video released by the Russian media showed the bus driving fast, making a sharp turn onto the bridge and colliding with another vehicle before breaking through the barrier and falling into the water.
Authorities in St. Petersburg said that the owner of the bus had been fined 23 times for various violations. Private companies run most of the city’s bus services.
The bus driver was detained by police. His wife was quoted by Russian media as saying that managers forced him to work a morning shift after working for 20 hours the previous day and getting virtually no rest.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
Putin will say it’s the Ukrainians.
Wow, it sank fast. Apparently several guys dove in to try to get people out. One named Mohamed and another Idris and one name Shahban. And others not known dove straight into that cold water trough no clear way out i can see.
No word on whether they succeeded in getting a door or window open.
It prob doesn’t matter but I’m wondering if the guy with 23 violations off a 20hrr shift would be driving the bus absent the invasion,
This brings to mind the time I rode on a bus in Ensenada, Mexico driven by my buddy, Brian’s friend who had had a fight with his wife and was guzzling tequila in spite of already being three sheets-to-the-wind. The bus route took us into the impoverished ramshackle hillside neighborhoods, down rough dirt roads. Nobody batted an eye, even when, back in town, he glanced at his watch and floored it, violating red lights along the way.
“No word on whether they succeeded in getting a door or window open.”
I saw the news on this and those men got the roof hatch opened. They saved 13 people. They really are heroes.
The Russians determined it was an attack by ISIS.
—
Kremlin snuff box, 05/10/24
https://t.me/s/kremlin_secrets
The migrant driver of the bus that fell into the river in St. Petersburg turned out to be an ISIS terrorist
The crash of a bus into the Moika River in St. Petersburg was a terrorist attack. Our sources in the intelligence services say this off the record.
The bus driver, as is known, was a 44-year-old native of Tajikistan. The intelligence services have already discovered the driver’s connection with ISIS*.
At the same time, an unspoken ban was given on publicly acknowledging the involvement of ISIS in this incident.
A source in the FSB claims that ISIS has seriously changed the mechanics of carrying out terrorist attacks.
“Due to the strengthening of measures to track explosives, (terrorists - ed.) are forced to use new forms of terrorist attacks. Using drivers in public transport is one of the “know-hows.”
“A week earlier, FSB officers were able to prevent a similar attack in one of the cities of the central Russia. But it’s impossible to cover everything,” says our interlocutor.
And he adds: “That’s why we began to put harsh pressure on the Tajiks, to expel them. Not because we are xenophobes and don’t like anyone there. But because we know that among them there are the highest number of ISIS supporters,” said the FSB officer.
For this reason, by the way, the issuance of labor patents has been paused in St. Petersburg.
“We received operational information that there would be a terrorist attack. We checked everyone, but we didn’t think that the attack would come from that direction,” our source said.
Law enforcement agencies fear a leak that ISIS terrorists were involved in the attack. At the same time, there are some dissatisfied in the FSB and the police that the authorities decided to hide the real threat.
A high-ranking interlocutor suggested that in order to avoid leaks, the media and telegram channels began to actively disseminate information that the first who rushed to help the victims were supporters of Islam from Dagestan. After all, they were not the only ones who rushed to save the bus passengers.
In the next 1.5-2 weeks, FSB interlocutors advise looking around more carefully. After all, the threat still remains. Although the special services are working to eliminate it.
*ISIS is a terrorist organization banned in Russia
The owner was fined 23 times but for what? Paper work violations, fees, maintanence issues that have zero to do with the driver of the bus?
It could be indicative of the shoddy way the owner runs his business and possibly overworked his drivers (as the bus drivers wife says)
I’m sure he would not. But he will likely be driving an armored vehicle in Ukraine next.
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