Kathrine Frich
The person sitting in the driver’s seat was no ordinary commuter.
Early morning commutes usually start in quiet routine.
Before the sun comes up, the streets are mostly empty and the city is still half asleep, until a sudden flash in the dark changes everything in a single second.
A sudden blast
That quiet shattered in Russia early on Thursday, November 12. According to the Daily Express, a car suddenly blew up along Kolpinskoye Shosse in the major Russian city of St Petersburg, leaving the person behind the wheel dead at the scene.
Security cameras nearby appear to have caught the violent moment on tape. In footage circulating on social media and cited by the Daily Express, a bright flash briefly lights up the dark night sky as the vehicle is torn apart.
Details are still emerging from the wreckage. One source quoted by the Daily Express summed up the initial chaos: “A car exploded in St. Petersburg. The driver was killed. The cause is unknown.”
Signs of an attack
Despite the early uncertainty over the exact trigger, the blast does not look like a random road accident. Initial accounts reported by the Daily Express suggest someone planted a bomb beneath the car’s undercarriage and may have set it off from a distance.
And the person sitting in the driver’s seat was no ordinary commuter. The same source quoted by the Daily Express added: “According to preliminary reports, it was a terrorist attack. The target was an officer of the Russian Armed Forces. #Russia.”
Online chatter reported by the British outlet points to the victim holding the rank of colonel, though officials have not yet verified that detail. For now, investigators in St Petersburg are left piecing together a developing morning mystery as more information continues to trickle in.
