Shrapnel from a Ukrainian missile intercepted by Russia struck a crowded beach in Crimea on Sunday.
Russian authorities reported that at least five people, including three children, were killed by shrapnel injuries, with fears that the death toll could increase.
A video captured by a beachgoer shows a missile appearing above Sevastopol and detonating, sending shrapnel crashing into the sand with successive thuds and bangs, causing panic among tourists who screamed and fled.
“Run!” one of the tourists’ shouts.
Other videos depict tourists using sun loungers to transport injured individuals away from the beach, and women in bikinis urgently providing first aid to a wounded tourist, with blood dripping onto the sand.
Among the deceased is the nine-year-old daughter of a town’s deputy mayor in the northern part of the occupied peninsula. According to Russia’s health ministry, 124 people were injured in the incident, including 27 children.
“The entire health care system has been mobilised. Doctors and medical staff are at work. The operating rooms are deployed,” said Mikhail Razvozhaev, the mayor of Sevastopol.
Attacks on civilian targets are rare in Russia or Russian-occupied territory but Ukrainian missile fragments have been known to fall away from military targets. The beach is about 10 minutes from the Belbek airfield, which Russia uses to launch fighter jets that regularly target civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
