Estonia, Legislation, Russia, Tourism, Transport

At 6:35 p.m. on Thursday, the Lux Express customer service received a phone call informing of an explosive device on the St. Petersburg-Tallinn bus, spokespeople for the company said on Friday. The customer service immediately informed the Russian police, the Lux Express bus terminal and the driver of the bus.

The bus driver started evacuating passengers five minutes later and roughly 50 minutes after informing the police, the first unit arrived.

The Russian police performed an in-depth examination of the replacement vehicle sent by Lux Express and as a result, the travel to Tallinn resumed at 8:40 p.m., having been granted permission by the authorities. All passengers arrived in Tallinn approximatel two hours and 15 minutes later than planned with the bus arriving at the bus station at 2:33 a.m.

Contrary to the information spreading on social media and in the news that the threat was relayed to the police by the passengers, the Russian police has confirmed that the first call was made to them by Lux Express customer service, spokespeople for the company said.

"The passengers' annoyance with the inconvenience of the situation is understandable, but in this case, Lux Express employees were guided by the orders of Russian officials and any unauthorized decision to leave passengers on the bus or to direct them into the replacement bus would have been an unacceptable disregard of these orders," the spokespeople added.

Lux Express is fully cooperating with Russian authorities, the Russian police has already identified and apprehended the caller.

The company apologizes for the inconvenience caused due to reasons unattributable to the carrier, the travel fare will be reimbursed to passengers as compensation for the delay.