Nov. 28 (UPI) — Five people have been arrested on charges related to negligence in a Russian coal mine disaster that left more than 50 people dead, investigators said Saturday.
The five will remain in pre-trial detention for two months pending the investigation of Thursday’s fire and explosion at the Listvyazhnaya coal mine on charges of negligence, TASS and Current Time TV channel reported.
The suspects arrested include mine director Sergei Makharakov, site manager Sergei Gerasimenko and Andrei Molostov, each of whom have been charged with of violation of industrial safety requirements for hazardous production facilities resulting in the death of two or more persons by negligence, Russian Investigative Committee said in a statement.
Two chief safety inspectors, Sergei Vinokurov and Vyacheslav Semykin, have also been detained for allegedly violating safety rules, investigators said,
“According to the investigation, as a result of violations of the industrial safety requirements of production facilities committed by the director of the mine Makharakov and his subordinates, a gas-dynamic phenomenon occurred and the subsequent smoke of the ventilation drift of the site, which led to the death of workers who were at the mine,” the committee’s statement said.
