If you were to really know what happened to the Crimea bridge then this video is for you.
The big question is was this a truck bomb? And there's some rather curious
things about this attack that I'll clear up and illustrate how their repairs are going.
A bomb exploded on the bridge early on Saturday morning 8 October causing
significant damage and major traffic disruption. The bridge was completed
4 years ago in 2018 it is the longest bridge in Europe stretching 18 km and
for the first time direct vehicle connection between Crimea and Russia became possible.
The bridge has been a vital supply route for Russia's war in Ukraine.
The disruption of military supplies caused by this attack
has significantly degraded Russia's ability to wage war and to defend Crimea.
THE STRUCTURE
The bridge has 2 Rail lines and 2 Road decks. The piers are concrete anchored into the relatively
shallow sea floor and spaced 64 meters apart. The bridging sections are steel structures.
You will notice the Rail lines are a lot higher than the roadway. This is because the train
tracks have a much longer and flatter incline section that rises up to the elevated span over
the shipping Lane. The truck and train were both heading westbound in the direction of Crimea.
The truck had just started on the incline section as it drew alongside the Train the bomb detonated.
This bomb was made specially for this mission. The explosive included incendiaries which are
the sparks you see. These pieces of burning metal are most likely what set
the train on light. The train had 59 carriages 17 of which carried fuel and 7 caught light.
DAMAGE
This is the suspected truck. Analyzing the footage frame by frame I calculate the track was traveling
at a steady 85 km/h. It is quite noteworthy that the truck did not slow down before detonating.
The train was moving slowly at about 18 km/h according to the frame count.
The motion of the train is easier to see here when it is sped up.
The blast buckled and snapped the roadway. It was powerful enough to set the train on fire.
The explosion was perfectly timed to go off in the middle of the span which is the weakest part.
The adjacent roadway remained standing but is weakened.
Huge Flames billowed from the train fanned by the strong wind coming across the sea.
The fire from the fuel train was so fierce it melted the train tracks in multiple locations. Even the bogeys melted.
The fuel had poured out over the sides of the bridge. The train girders were subjected to extensive heat.
One span shows signs of sagging.
The concrete pylons could also be heat damaged.
Here we can see the far side of the train structure and was also not spared. It was covered in flames.
Currently just 1 railway line is open to limited traffic and both rail structures are scheduled for replacement.
The surviving roadway is open for cars and light delivery vehicles but no
trucks and buses are currently using the bridge. They have to use the ferry.
-#1 TRUCK SURVIVED-
Many think this still frame proves the bomb came from below and the truck was intact after the blast.
But this is not true. This flash along the bottom is nothing more than a technical anomaly related to digital cameras.
Video cameras don't capture an image at one time.
Instead they scan the image as lines from top to bottom in a continuous loop faster than the eye can see.
This is called Rolling Shutter. The top part of the image is pre-explosion.
Advance the video and now the fire is in the distance and above. It is not coming from below.
not wierd - a case of rolling shutter
-#2 SOMETHING IN THE WATER-
A 2nd camera captures the final location of the truck just before detonation. This places
the truck at the epicenter of the damage. But curiously there is something moving under the
bridge and it is unclear exactly what it is. Perhaps it's a barge, perhaps it's a wave.
But after the explosion the road deck above it is still intact. So whatever this mystery object is,
it is in the wrong place while the truck is in the right spot. So it is probably a wave.
not weird - it is a wave
#3 BROKEN IN 3 PLACES?
How did the roadway break in 3 different places?
The movement joints of the bridge provide this answer.
The joint you see here allows for thermal expansion.
Fewer movement joints on the road surface are better, so joints were placed every 4 spans 260 meters apart.
It was this section between joints that was destroyed.
This demonstration shows you how the downward blast pulled both ends of the deck.
This action tugged the ends inwards, making them slip off their supports and they dropped.
The blast force bent the road deck downward and it tore into 2.
Notice the way the broken roadway is lying at a slant.
This happened because the explosion was in the outside lane.
The off-center blast applied a rotational force on the deck.
When I push down to the one side, the cloth swings sideways. Much like what is seen with the bridge.
The way in which the roadway buckled and broke is consistent with an explosion at the last known position of this truck.
FURTHER CLUES
Here are some additional clues about the nature of this explosion.
The blast swept across the roadway and blew the railings clean off.
Probably my favorite clue is this piece of mangled truck suspension. It was found here far from the
truck. The only reasonable explanation for how this piece was flung like this, is from a
blast centered in the truck. It flew 90 meters and lodged itself into the bridge structure.
The train carriages show no sign of damage from a missile. The damage is all fire related.
There are no signs of scorching under the road deck. The scorching is all on top.
This edge of adjacent deck was buckled in the explosion. The clues are all consistent with a truck bomb.
*truck bomb confirmed*
DRIVER
Did the driver know there was a bomb on board? Most likely not. The truck stayed in the outside
lane not attempting to place the explosion closer to the train and to destroy both roadways.
And slowing down and meeting the train higher up on the bridge would also put the bomb to maximum use.
None of these happened which to me suggests he was unaware of what he was transporting.
Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attack.
REPAIRS
Repair Crews have moved quickly and already removed the destroyed spans.
The 1st roadway panel has been lowered into position already.
The rest of the outer lanes are to be in position by December which will mean trucks can drive the bridge again.
Road repairs are to be finished by March. One rail track is currently running but with restricted traffic.
The Rail lines are scheduled to be complete by September 2023, 11 months after the attack.
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Thanks for watching and I'll see you in the next video when this bridge is almost certainly targeted again.