Strong explosion kills young couple on the beach in Russia’s Sochi

A strong explosion sounded at one of beaches of the town of Loo on the outskirts of the resort city of Sochi, Russia’s Black Sea Coast. The explosion killed two holiday-makers, and injured at least 13 others.

President Dmitry Medvedev ordered his envoy in the southern administrative district of Russia to personally control the investigation of the incident. A 2-million-ruble reward (about $87,000) was announced for the information which could help solve the crime.

“Two people were killed and 13 injured as a result of the explosion of an unidentified device. Five people were hospitalized with injuries of various degrees, eight others were provided medical aid on the spot,” a source from the law-enforcement agencies of Russia’s Krasnodar region told Interfax.

The explosion on Loo beach occurred at about 10:00 a.m., about three or five meters from water. Two people, a man and a woman were walking along the beach and saw a plastic bag on the sand. The woman bent over to pick the bag up - the blast followed immediately. The man, 31, a native of Rostov-on-Don, and the woman, 22, a resident of Kiev, died instantly, eye-witnesses say.

Other people, who suffered in the explosion, received fragment wounds, concussions and close wounds. One person suffered a serious injury – he had his leg severed as a result of the blast.

All holiday-makers have been evacuated from the beach. A group of police officers and cynologists investigate the reasons of the explosion.

Russia ’s President Medvedev had a telephone conversation with the presidential envoy in Russia’s south, Vladimir Ustinov. Medvedev ordered Ustinov to take all measures necessary for the investigation of the explosion in Sochi. The governor of the Krasnodar region of Russia, Alexander Tkachev, ahs already arrived in Sochi.