The Russian Government
Alexandr Sin, the General Manager of the military mine-rescue subdivisionsurges “not to be too fast with setting out the non-professional leads” of the emergency at the “Raspadskaya” mine in Kemerovo Region, where, as a result of two explosions 52 people perished and there is no information about 38 people. He considers the reason of the mine rescuers’ death after the sudden second explosion can be found only after thorough investigation. The mine rescuers, who went under the ground after the first emergency and perished as a result of the second explosion, were performing their functions, trying to save the injured, stressed Sin. “The first groups are usually intelligence groups of mine rescuers, which do not know what they will face when they go under the ground in order to save the lives of the injured. According to the regulations, the first intelligence groups go into the mine after the emergency in order to analyze the gas situation,” he said. “They pass this information to the control station,” said Sin.
“If the level of methane after the first explosion was more than 2 percent, the rescuers had to return to the surface. However, none of the subdivisions received the information about at least 1 percent methane increase,” said Sin.
The Governor of the Kemerovo Region Aman Tuleev also reported that “no one forecasted the second explosion which led to serious destructions both above and under the ground.” “It is important to find out the reasons of the second explosion not only for us but for the whole industry,” thinks the Governor of the Region.
Tuleev stressed that the emergency operations center together with the Head EMERCOM of Russia Sergey Shoigu is doing all they can to examine all the mine bores in the shortest possible time and to reach the miners who can still be under the ground.
“To do this, air stream must be let into the mine, however, we must take into consideration there is smoldering process in some areas. The air can lead to another explosion. We cannot allow this. Therefore, we are being very careful. We have no rights to risk the lives of the rescuers. We do not need any unjustified sacrifices,” said the governor.
Tuleev assured the injured and the relatives of the perished that they will receive necessary aid at the Federal and Regional levels as well as from the mine management.
