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© Reuters / Sergei KarpovMembers of the emergency services work at the site of a bomb blast on a trolleybus in Volgograd December 30, 2013.
At least 10 people have been killed in a trolley bus blast in Volgograd, emergency services report, only a day after a suicide bombing ripped through the city's railway station, killing 17.

Monday, December 30

06:25 GMT: Burns and multiple traumas have been sustained by the victims of the trolley blast. Moscow is standing by to receive more wounded, if the need arises, health ministry spokeswoman Veronika Skvortsova told RIA Novosti.

06:18 GMT: FSB director, Aleksandr Botnikov, has been ordered by the President to fly to the scene, RIA Novosti reports.

06:20 GMT: The situation is being handled effectively - no shortage in medicine has been reported and efforts by emergency services are proving to be quite effective.

06:16 GMT: The number of fatalities varies from at least 10 to 15 at this point, as official sources differ on the matter.

06:13 GMT: Ministry of Health spokesperson said a child has been badly injured and is in critical condition.

06:06 GMT: The Emergencies Ministry has strongly tightened security in Volgograd. Teams of psychologists and other doctors are also being dispatched to the scene of the blast, the ministry reported. Their plane is to leave Moscow at 10:30AM local time.

06:00 GMT: "We are terrified. Everyone disembarked from buses and trams to walk on foot. I live 200 meters away from that place, I was just passing it on my way to work," Sergey Stukalov, an eyewitness, told RIA Novosti.

Sergey also said that the blast occurred on the No.15 trolley route, connecting a suburb to Volgograd's downtown area.

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© Reuters / Sergei KarpovMembers of the Russian emergency services work at the site of a bomb blast on a trolleybus in Volgograd December 30, 2013.
05:55 GMT: Panic has spread on Twitter, describing yet another blast - this time in a busy tram. However, the rumors have since been proven false.

05:50 GMT: "The people are in a state of shock and bewilderment. A second terrorist attack in two days....a third in recent months. I was there 15 minutes after the explosion occurred," Artem Tolkachev, an eyewitness, told Life News.

05:43 GMT: The death toll from the blast has risen to 15 people, with a further 23 receiving injuries, the Volgograd Region's vice-governor Vasiliy Galushin told Interfax.

"The emergency services have reacted very swiftly. All those injured have been taken to hospitals, as their identities are being determined," he said.

05:41 GMT:

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05:37 GMT: According to witness reports to ITAR-TASS, there were many students on the bus.
"There was a loud 'pop', then a flash, everything was enveloped in smoke," one female witness said, describing the sudden realization.

05:34 GMT: The Investigative Committee now puts the number of injured at 15.

05:30 GMT: In describing the character of the blast, ITAR-TASS law enforcement sources have said that it appears to be a suicide attack, "judging from the body fragments characteristic of such a bombing."

05:28 GMT: President Vladimir Putin has met with the head of Russia's FSB, Aleksandr Bortnikov, who has briefed him on the situation, the Kremlin press office reported.

05:23 GMT: The Investigative Committee's spokesman has informed the press the incident is being treated as an act of terror.

05:21 GMT: Bodies were seen scattered next to the vehicle, which has been split nearly in half by the powerful blast, which took place as the trolley was passing one of the city's busy markets.

05:17 GMT: Police are currently at the scene investigating.

05:00 GMT: Authorities have reason to believe the trolley blast may also be a terrorist act, as the signature closely matches the one witnessed in yesterday's railway station bombing, the Investigative Committee told RIA Novosti

05:00 GMT: A trolley bus blast has claimed 10 lives in Volgograd, just one day after 17 lives were lost in the city's railway station explosion in a suicide bombing.