Into the same funnel

Another coal mine exploded in Kuzbass

In Kuzbass, mourning has been declared for tomorrow for the victims of another mining tragedy. Yesterday morning, in the midst of the first work shift, a methane outbreak occurred at the Yubileiny coal mine in Novokuznetsk. At that moment, there were 217 people underground. According to official data, 38 of them died as a result of the accident, and seven more were injured.

This is not the largest emergency in the history of the Russian coal industry. Especially against the background of the recent disaster at the Ulyanovskaya mine near Novokuznetsk, where on March 19, as a result of a series of methane and coal dust explosions, 110 miners were killed (the largest casualties in the industry in the modern history of Russia). However, it was after Ulyanovskaya that the tragedy at Yubileinaya seems all the more egregious and, among other things, evidence of the incapacity of the state supervisory system.

Yubileinaya, like the Ulyanovskaya mine, belongs to the Yuzhkuzbassugol company, to which the authorities placed full responsibility for the March tragedy. Based on the results of the investigation into that disaster, the governor of the Kemerovo region and the head of Rostekhnadzor, Konstantin Pulikovsky, publicly announced that it was the result of the company’s mindless pursuit of profit, due to which the mine’s safety system was deliberately disabled. After the accident at Ulyanovskaya, Yubileinaya, like all other Russian mines, was allegedly subjected to a thorough inspection for compliance with safety regulations. Moreover, serious violations were discovered at Yubileiny, which is why its activities were temporarily suspended. But later the mine resumed operation. After yesterday's explosion, the question of how and why this happened and how the check was carried out becomes purely rhetorical.

The situation in the coal industry in terms of supervision and enforcement of laws is similar to what we face in other areas of life - from the work of housing offices to the organization of road traffic. Low level of qualifications, high level of corruption, willingness to circumvent laws and regulations. The only difference is in the effect - depending on the sphere in question. If representatives of the housing office are not ready to monitor the condition of communications and weld pipes efficiently, people simply risk being left without water or flooding their neighbors. And, alas, we got used to this. In the coal industry, such consequences are much more “visible” and more terrible - here, failure to comply with laws and regulations ends in the death of tens and hundreds of people at once.

Yesterday, the management of Rostekhnadzor announced that it had been decided to consider the possibility of depriving the Yuzhkuzbassugol company of a license to operate hazardous production facilities, that is, simply ban the operation of all its mines. Perhaps this will scare other companies for a while, and more attention will be paid to the safety issue. But soon everything will return to normal, and the mine administration, and the miners themselves, interested in fulfilling the norm and receiving normal wages, will again begin to push the limits, despite the danger of new explosions. By the way, it is not a fact that after the incident the same Yuzhkuzbassugol will lose its license. Businessmen will probably present to the court and supervisory authorities the conclusions of the auditors of Rostekhnadzor itself, who allowed the further operation of Yubileiny and confirmed that all violations were identified there. At the same time, most likely, the proposals of experts who, even after the Ulyanovskaya accident, proposed to radically revise the wage system in the industry, as well as subject our mines to degassing, without which in many countries the deposits do not even begin to be developed, will remain at the level of discussion. As a matter of fact, without such steps, the very intention of the authorities to radically increase the share of coal in the domestic energy sector should come into question.

A methane explosion at the Yubileinaya mine occurred at 11.40 local time. At this time, there were 217 people in the mine - 194 miners and 23 mine engineering and technical supervision specialists. The epicenter of the explosion was located underground at a depth of 520 meters in the “15-16” lava - a mining area about 300 meters long. There were 39 people there at the time of the accident. Arriving rescuers almost immediately brought 178 miners to the surface, seven of whom were sent to hospitals with injuries. After another three hours, the first reports of casualties arrived. Under the rubble of the collapsed lava arch “15-16”, 15 bodies of the dead were found. The rest were initially listed as missing. The hope of finding survivors lingered for several more hours, but by the end of the day only one more seriously wounded but alive miner was raised from the face. Then those found only added to the tally of the dead. By eight o'clock in the evening, everyone who was listed on the report card as having gone to the slaughter was raised. The death toll by that time had reached 38. But mine rescue teams continued to descend into the mine for some time, checking to see if anyone else was still there.

As it turned out, an inspection of technical safety equipment was planned for today at Yubileiny. According to one of the mine workers, over the past month there has often been a high concentration of methane in the air, and therefore a week ago the issue of closing the ill-fated “15-16” lava was decided. However, for some reason the decision was never made.

In connection with the accident at Yubileiny, the prosecutor of the Novokuznetsk region opened a criminal case under the article of the Criminal Code “violation of safety rules during mining operations, resulting in the death of two or more persons through negligence.”

HERE IS THE CUT

Already yesterday, at the scene of the accident, employees of the prosecutor's office began to carry out initial investigative actions. In addition, a state commission, the composition of which will be approved in the coming days, will investigate the causes of the accident and the massive loss of life. Yesterday, the head of the district department of Rostekhnadzor, Leonid Baklitsky, and his deputy for hazardous production facilities, Evgeniy Vdovin, urgently went to the scene of the tragedy from Novosibirsk. According to experts, preliminary results of the investigation can be expected no earlier than in 15 days.

Nevertheless, the general nature of the investigation that has begun is already clear. The Yubileinaya mine, according to specialists from the regional branch of Rostekhnadzor, belongs to the category of hazardous mines due to sudden emissions of coal and methane gas. It was put into operation in 1966, its production capacity is 1.8 million tons of coal per year.

Yesterday's methane outbreak, as it turned out, is not the first such incident at Yubileiny. On February 12 of this year, a similar incident occurred here, but, fortunately, none of the 234 people who were underground at that moment were injured. After the accident at the Ulyanovskaya mine, by the way, also owned by the Yuzhkuzbassugol company, which claimed the lives of 110 people, widespread safety checks were carried out in mines throughout the country. “Yubileinaya” was also inspected, where 56 violations were identified. They concerned design and technical documentation, fire protection, electromechanical facilities and the implementation of measures against sudden releases.

Six officials were then brought to administrative responsibility. Due to the violations identified, including in the ill-fated “15-16” longwall, inspectors from the technical supervision department have gone to court three times since February of this year with requests to stop the operation of the mine. However, the Novokuznetsk District Court did not find any grounds for bringing the Yuzhkuzbassugol company to administrative responsibility and refused to suspend mining operations. It was possible to stop work in April, but only for ten days, and even then only in a few areas.

Yesterday's tragedy at Yubileinaya, understandably, caused a sharp reaction from the authorities. President Putin, who was in Luxembourg yesterday, expressed condolences to the families of the deceased miners and demanded that the owners of coal enterprises “strictly observe safety rules.” Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, in turn, at a government meeting ordered to look into what was happening in Kuzbass, adding that “the series of these accidents is already beyond all permissible limits.” Rostekhnadzor reported that over the past few years, Yuzhkuzbassugol has lost over 300 people as a result of accidents at its mines. Kuzbass Governor Aman Tuleyev spoke out most categorically. According to senator from Kuzbass Sergei Shatirov, the head of the region “decided to raise the issue of a complete change in the company’s management, starting from the general director.” “We need to hire people who can run the mine without accidents or incidents,” the senator said.

The OJSC United Coal Company Yuzhkuzbassugol includes ten mines (Abashevskaya, Alardinskaya, Gramoteinskaya, Esaulskaya, Kusheyakovskaya, Osinnikovskaya, Tagaryshskaya, Tomskaya, Tomusinskaya 5- 6", "Yubileinaya" and "Ulyanovskaya"), two processing plants and 13 specialized auxiliary enterprises in Novokuznetsk, Mezhdurechensk, Osinniki and Belov. The company's shares belong on a parity basis (50%) to its management and the metallurgical holding Evraz Group. Revocation of a license or replacement of the entire top management of such a large company could become a precedent in the country's coal industry.

Eduard LOMOVTSEV, Victor PAUKOV