Explosion reported near St. Petersburg military academy (VIDEOS)
The incident happened at the Signal Corps school in Russia’s second largest city
At least seven people have been injured in a blast at the Signal Corps Military Academy in St. Petersburg on Friday, according to local media.
Emergency responders, including several ambulances and a fire truck, have arrived at the scene. Videos making rounds on social media showed several people being evacuated on stretchers.
Two of the injured were in serious condition, according to local media. One patient was taken to intensive care.
The incident is “not of a terrorist nature,” St. Petersburg regional governor Alexander Beglov said in a statement, noting that the Ministry of Defense has jurisdiction in the matter.
The cause of the explosion was a munition dating back to the Second World War, the Leningrad Military District said in a statement.
The school, founded in 1919, is named after the legendary Soviet cavalry officer Semyon Budyonny and located on the Tikhoretsk Avenue, in the northern part of the city.