A teenager was saved after the St Petersburg train attack by her grandmother who extinguished her burning hair, it emerged today.
Alexandra Zyablitskaya, 15, was knocked unconscious by the blast which ripped through the carriage in Russia’s second city on Monday, killing 14 people and injuring 68 more.
Alexandra, a talented artist from the city of Barnaul, had been visiting graphic designers at the time.
Her grandmother, Vera, 58, told reporters she first feared her granddaughter had been killed.
She said: “We entered the carriage, and a few seconds later there was an explosion. I was thrown away from her by the blast.
"When I finally found her, Sasha (Alexandra) showed no sign of life. Her hair was burning, mine was too. I extinguished the flames as well as I could.
“After a few minutes my granddaughter finally responded. I closed her eyes with my hands so that she would not see what was happening close by.”
The pair managed to climb from the wreckage amid dying victims after the driver took the train to the next station in order to make evacuation easier.
Vera added: “Now I understand that we managed to survive only because we were sitting down when the blast came. Those who were standing in the carriage were killed.”
The teenager suffered concussion and burns on her arm.
The blast occurred at around 2.30pm local time, after the train had left Sennaya Ploshchad station in the centre of St Petersburg.
Russian investigators suspect former sushi chef, Kyrgyz-born Russian citizen Akbarzhon Dzhalilov, 22, of being the suicide bomber.
Read More
MORE ABOUT