Nine construction workers died following a fire at the Uralkali, Moscow, Solikamsk-3 underground potash mine in Russia’s Perm region on Dec. 22. The potash company said two teams of workers – 17 in total –were undertaking maintenance work in the mine, where operations had been suspended for the work to be carried out, when the fire broke out. The fire is reported to have started at 10:04 am (Moscow time) in shaft-4, which is under construction. Eight workers were quickly evacuated, but the fire cut off access to the other workers, who were in a different part of the mine and some 364 meters (1,200 feet) underground, according to Russian news agency reports.
It took firefighters more than 36 hours to extinguish the fire, according to reports. The reports cited the rescue headquarters as confirming on Dec. 23 that all nine bodies had been located, and seven had been recovered by that evening.
Uralkali reported on Dec. 24 that the emergency response measures at Solikamsk-3 had been completed and the mine had returned to normal operations. Some analysts had earlier speculated that it would take about two weeks for the mine to restart. The Perm Region declared Dec. 24 a day of mourning for the workers who had died. Uralkali said it will make a lump sum payment of RUB3 million (approximately $43,000) to the family of each victim.
Authorities are treating the incident as due to lax safety procedures, and a criminal probe of possible safety violations was launched on Dec. 23, according to a Bloomberg report, citing the country’s Investigative Committee, the state body that investigates major crimes. Four employees of the subcontractor in charge of the maintenance work at the mine have been detained, according to the report.
Uralkali said shaft-4 at Solikamsk-3 was transferred to a contractor organization in December 2017 to perform certain activities, with a requirement to follow all applicable occupational and industrial safety requirements.
Poor safety standards often have been to blame for a raft of accidents that have occurred at Russian mines. The last major mining accident happened in August 2017, when 17 workers died after the Mir diamond mine in Siberia owned by Alrosa flooded. In February 2016, 36 people died, including five rescue workers, in a coal mine collapse in Vorkuta, located just inside Russia’s Arctic Circle territory.