A fuel tank caught fire at a bridge in Crimea – Russia

(Reuters) – A fire broke out in a fuel tank on the Kerch bridge in Crimea early on Saturday, the official RIA news agency said, while Ukrainian media reported an explosion.

Traffic has been suspended on the road and railway bridge, which opened in 2018 and was designed to connect Crimea to the Russian transport network.

“A fuel tank caught fire in one part of the Qurum bridge,” the agency said, quoting a regional official, without specifying the reason.

Charging arcs undamaged.

Ukrainian media said the explosion on the bridge occurred around 6 a.m. (0300 GMT).

Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled the bridge in 2018, after the 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, which led to sanctions and worsened relations with the West.

In September, Russia announced the annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia provinces after referendums that Kyiv and the West say were spurious exercises conducted at gunpoint.

(Lydia Kelly reports from Melbourne); Additional reporting by Rhea Benoy in Bengaluru. Editing by William Mallard and Clarence Fernandez

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