Explosion hits St Petersburg metro in Russia, killing up to 10 people
The blast hit a carriage between the Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations, officials say
An explosive device was found and disabled at another station, Ploshchad Vosstaniya
President Putin says all causes are being considered, including terrorism
There are conflicting reports over how many people have been killed or injured in the blast.
The Russian National Anti-Terrorist Committee has said nine people have died and 20 people sustained injuries.
However, minutes earlier, a spokesman for St Petersburg's governor said at least 10 people were killed and 50 injured.
Facebook has activated its "safety check" so users in St Petersburg can let their friends and family know that they are safe.
The tool was activated in other recent incidents, including the attacks in London, Brussels, Paris and Munich.
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BBC Monitoring
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A Russian official who called today's explosion a "terrorist act" just over an hour ago has backtracked on his statement.
Alexander Kurennoi, a spokesman for the Russian prosecutor-general’s office, now says it is too early to say anything about the causes of the blast.
He told Interfax:
Quote MessageA group of staff from the St Petersburg prosecutor’s office, headed by the city prosecutor, Sergei Litvinenko, is currently working at the scene. It is still too early to draw any conclusions."
BBC Monitoring
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Russia's prosecutors' office has called the St Petersburg explosion a "terrorist act".
Alexander Kurennoi, a spokesman for the prosecutor-general, told Russia's international state broadcaster RT:
Quote MessageSoon we and our colleagues from the law-enforcement agencies will start work on minimising the impact of this terrorist act, as well on establishing all the circumstances that contributed to it being carried out.
However, other senior officials have been reluctant to label it a terrorist attack so far, saying the cause was still being investigated.
Here's a picture of the helicopter that is being used by the emergency services in St Petersburg, seen here in front of the Tekhnologichesky Institut metro station.
Image source, AFPThere was only one blast in the St Petersburg explosion, a Russian official has confirmed to Rossiya 24 TV.
Andrei Przhezdomsky, head of the Russian National Anti-Terrorist Committee (NAK) information centre, said the explosion took place at 14:40 local time (11:40 GMT), as the train traveled between Sennaya Ploschad and Tekhnologichesky Institut.
Earlier reports had suggested there were two separate explosions.
However, the exact cause is still unknown. A source has told Russian news agency Interfax that there was one bomb in the third carriage.
All stations in St Petersburg's metro system have been closed following explosions that killed at least 10 people.
Andrei Przhezdomsky, the head of the Russian National Anti-Terrorist Committee (NAK) information centre, told Rossiya 24 TV that the evacuation had been completed:
Quote MessageThe injured are receiving treatment. Now, specialists of the FSB [Federal Security Service], bomb technicians are working at the scene together with investigators. I think they will establish what happened fairly quickly. All the necessary measures are being taken to ensure the security of citizens. We will do everything to rule out possible repeated explosions and some other illegal actions."
In Moscow, metro officials say they are introducing extra security measures.
The Foreign Secretary tweets...
Denis Skovoroda took this video as his train passed through Tekhnologichesky Institut station between 20 and 30 minutes after the blast.
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Geoff Edwards, from Liverpool, works in St Petersburg and uses Tekhnologishesky Institut station every day.
He did not witness the explosions, but is only a quarter of a mile away.
"There are helicopters flying around right now, I can hear them out of the window," Mr Edwards, 68, told the BBC.
Quote MessageA colleague told me that one landed near the station - to collect dead bodies. When you consider how many people travel on the metro every day, it's quite scary. I use the station every day, I came into work on it this morning."
Geoff Edwards
Image source, ReutersEmergency services' personnel direct pedestrians outside the Sennaya Ploshchad metro station
Image source, ReutersAt least 50 people have been injured in the blasts in the city's metro system, officials say
Andrey Kibitov, the spokesman for the governor of St Petersburg, says there are currently 41 ambulances on site.
He tweeted (in Russian), external that the number of injured was "about 50".
Mr Kibitov did not mention how many people had died.
Image source, AFPRussian President Vladimir Putin, who is in St Petersburg, says officials are considering all possible causes for the blasts in the city's metro system, including terrorism.
He said he had spoken with the heads of the security services.
Security and law enforcement agencies are "working and doing all they can to ascertain what has happened and to make a complete assessment of the incident," Mr Putin said.
The Moscow metro has tweeted it will be taking additional security measures in the wake of the explosion in St Petersburg.
It has also offered help to St Petersburg metro if needed.
Meanwhile, the St Petersburg metro, which serves about two million passengers every day across its five lines, is reported to have shut down all stations.
Image source, ReutersTekhnologichesky Institut station serves metro lines one and two in St Petersburg. The first hall opened in 1955, followed by the second in 1961.
Image source, ReutersThis is the entrance of the Sennaya Ploshchad station, on line two, which was opened two years later, in 1963.
The BBC Moscow correspondent Sarah Rainsford says the explosion in St Petersburg looks "horribly serious" from the pictures being broadcast on Russian television.
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Explosions at underground stations in St Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, have killed at least 10 people.
We'll be bringing you live updates on this developing story. Here's what we know so far: