At least 18 people were killed Wednesday in an explosion at a technical college in the city of Kerch on the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, a Russian anti-terror committee representative said.

In this image made from video, showing the scene as emergency services load an injured person onto a truck, in Kerch, Crimea, Wednesday Oct. 17, 2018. (Photo: AP)

"According to provisional information, 18 people died, and 50 were injured," National Anti-Terror Committee spokesman Andrei Przhedomskikh told official news agency TASS, adding that the building was evacuated and cordoned off after the "explosion".

Russia said Wednesday it had opened a criminal investigation into a "terrorist attack" after an unidentified explosive device went off in a technical college in the city of Kerch in Moscow-annexed Crimea, killing at least 18 and injuring around 50.

The Investigative Committee, which probes major incidents, said in a statement that it had "opened a criminal case into a terrorist attack over the explosion in a college in Kerch."

Kerch terrorist suspect identified as 22-year-old student, who killed himself after attack.