Russia plans to allow trucks on explosion-hit Crimean bridge this weekend

Truck traffic over the Crimea Bridge is planned to be restored by October 16, the so-called head of Crimea Sergey Aksenov said on October 10 on the air with the Rossiya-1 TV Channel.

"We believe it will be possible to restore the truck traffic on the Crimea Bridge by the sixteenth day [of October]," TASS quotes Aksenov as saying.

Light traffic resumed on Russia's only bridge to Crimea on October 9, hours after a huge blast brought down sections of the roadway on September 8.

The blast on Europe's longest bridge - a symbol of Russia's annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 - killed three people, investigators say.

The victims were in a nearby car when a lorry blew up, Russian officials claim.

The railway part of the bridge - where oil tankers caught fire - has also apparently reopened.

On September 8 evening, Russia's foreign ministry published a video, seemingly showing cars using the bridge.