In Odessa, train passengers described their experience after a drone struck the train

On August 13, a Russian “Shahed” drone struck the Odesa–Dnipro passenger train with precision. The train driver and his assistant were killed when the drone hit the locomotive. There was also another strike—on a diesel locomotive that was performing shunting operations.

According to the Odesa Regional Military Administration, as of 4:00 p.m., 525 passengers, including 130 children, had been evacuated from the scene. Buses were used to transport the passengers. A child who was injured received medical attention at the scene.

An Intenta photojournalist met the evacuated passengers at the Odesa train station and spoke with them.

According to them, the attacks took place near the Buyalyk station in the Berezivsky district. Due to air raid alerts and the threat of new strikes, people were evacuated from the trains several times.

<picture></picture>Photo: Intent

One of the female passengers, who was traveling from Kyiv to Odesa with a friend and a child, said that after the train stopped, people were first led to a platform about three kilometers from the scene.

Later, passengers were evacuated again due to the threat of drone strikes. People heard explosions but did not initially realize that one of them had hit their train.

“We heard the explosion but didn’t realize it was on our train; we only found out later from the news. Then we waited two hours to be taken away from there,” the passenger said.

<picture></picture>Photo: Intent

Another passenger, Olena, was traveling on a different train. According to her, the train was first stopped due to an air raid alert, and the passengers were evacuated. After that, the train stopped because the locomotive was hit at Buyalik Station.

Then, according to Olena, one air raid alert followed another, and the train remained stationary without power. Later, another locomotive arrived, but it, too, was struck by a drone.

Another passenger, a veteran named Oleksiy, said that his train was traveling immediately behind the train that had been struck.

“First, we were evacuated; then a second time—that’s when the drone struck. We sat there for a long time before getting off, then walked 2–3 km. Not far ahead of us, the engineer and the assistant engineer were killed. And then we were literally right behind them—another strike happened right in front of us. The train, as they said, was about 100 meters away from us—and it overturned onto our tracks,” the man said.

Oleksiy noted that his journey to the Odesa region took a total of 28 hours. He was traveling from the Zhytomyr region.

According to the State Emergency Service, Russian troops struck another passenger train in the Berezivsky district for the second time that day. A child was injured in the attack.

After the strike, the diesel locomotive and dry grass caught fire. Rescuers extinguished the fire.

The State Emergency Service, together with other agencies, evacuated 525 people, including 130 children. Seventeen buses provided by the State Emergency Service and city authorities were deployed to transport the passengers.

Rescue workers and other emergency services continue to work at the scene and assist the evacuated passengers.

Ірина Глухова