Expertise

Sergey Shchetinin, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Russian Union of Rescuers

The accident occurred close to the Park Pobedy station; rescuers arrived within 15 minutes. Some even earlier, there is literally a fire and rescue squad on Poklonnaya Hill nearby. The only people who waited for rescuers for 45 minutes or more were those who were on other sections of this stretch, on other trains that stopped after the contact network was turned off. They were much further from the station and were not in any danger.

Electric cables stretch to the right and left of the tunnel. During the accident they were damaged, a short circuit and smoke occurred. Here, a big role was played by the employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations who happened to be nearby, going to work at the ministry through the Slavyansky Boulevard station. They were not in uniform, but they worked accurately: they found fire extinguishers in the cars and extinguished the sources of smoke, otherwise it could have led to much more serious consequences.

Metro employees actively helped. Even the contractors working in the neighboring tunnel got involved: they opened the grates separating their technical tunnel from the main one, and showed people another exit to the surface. In principle, the metro has special pockets and additional escape routes, but only on stretches longer than 6 kilometers. If the distance is shorter, as it is here, then 95 percent of people can cover it without much physical effort. There was an opportunity to appreciate the difference: while the old wide tunnels still allow one to squeeze through the side doors of the cars, the new and narrow tunnels have less room for maneuver. Evacuation is provided only through the head and tail cars.

The rescue helicopters worked very quickly and efficiently. 8-10 machines were involved, working in a carousel manner. They transported more than 30 victims to hospitals who required urgent specialized medical care. I think everything that was possible was done.

Although no, probably not quite everything. Back in 2010, during the terrorist attacks on the metro, metro and police officers showed insufficient first aid skills. But in such situations, it happens that a person’s life depends on 2-3 minutes - with heavy bleeding, in the rubble, it is competent help in the first minutes that can save. Therefore, the number of people in the metro capable of providing such assistance should be increased. And the stations must have the necessary supply of funds to provide it. In the West, automatic defibrillators can be seen in public places. The question that they should be in Russia was raised several years ago. There is no return yet. It is also necessary to provide and equip the relevant services with light mobile systems for moving on rails. So that there would be no need to adjust the trolley for evacuation, but two people would be enough: they picked it up, went down to the road, collected it and drove off. By the way, such systems were tested in Russia.

We did everything we could