Tauranga man Bryce Winstone was on the St Petersberg Metro during the bombing which killed 11 people and injured more than 40.

He believes he was on a train a station away, but it was hard to hear what was going on because all the announcements were in Russian.

'There were two explosions. If it wasn't the train I'd just got off, it was the one immediately before. They run every two minutes. Lots of women and kids and pensioners on the train I was on,” says Bryce in a Facebook post following Monday night's bombing.

'Until two hours ago [meaning just after the explosion] security in this city was near nonexistent. There would be nothing stopping terrorists from blowing up a pub at 2am but there wouldn't be kids in a pub.

'I guess they were targeting the students. The bomb went off just before the tech. I don't know if it was the train I'd just got off but it had loaded up with students.”

Bryce was unsure if the emergency services response to the bombing would affect his travel plans.

He was concerned he would miss the connection to the bullet train taking him from Russia into Finland.

'I am aboard the train,” he posted later. 'I did get pounced on when I returned to the railway station but turns out Railways wanted to refund my ticket.”

Carrying a pack, he was approached by a bomb dog a: 'Big fluffy looking people eating monster. No doubt would have ripped me apart on command”.