The Ukhta Town Court of the Komi Republic established the death of two workers who were at the Yareganeft Oil Mine during the fire on November 1. To this date, they have not been recovered, and the location of the workers has not been pinpointed yet. This is reported in the court’s press-release.
The Ukhta Prosecutor's office demanded establishing the death. This is necessary in order to conduct an investigation of a fatal group accident. In addition, establishing the death will allow relatives of the victims to receive regional and federal compensation payments.
The court's decision to pronounce the missing workers dead allows flooding the mine, according to the reference report of the Situation Analysis Center of the Ministry of Energy. The court's decision has not taken legal effect yet.
The fire at the Yareganeft Oil Mine, owned by LUKOIL-Komi LLC, started on November 1. There was a fire during drilling operations, performed by employees of Neftegazmash LLC, the contractor. 80 people were evacuated from the mine, the fate of two people remained unknown for several days. The office of criminal investigations of the Investigating Committee of Russia in the Komi Republic opened a criminal case under the article on violation of safety rules in hazardous facilities (Article 217 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
