60 still missing as death toll climbs in Russian dam accident
CHERYOMUSHKY (Russia): Some 60 workers were still missing on Thursday three days after a flood engulfed a Siberian hydroelectric power station as
the death toll climbed to 15 in the latest calamity to hit the Russian energy industry.
Teams of divers and even robots were plunging into the near freezing waters of the flooded Sayano-Shushenskaya plant in the southern Siberian region of Khakassia in a last-ditch bid to find workers who may be trapped but alive.
The official death toll was 15 after a body was found early Thursday, the emergency situations ministry said. It added that 15 people were injured while some 60 were still missing.
As the first funerals were held, relatives expressed anger at the lack of information from local authorities on the accident in the power station’s turbine hall.
“We are searching for the living. That’s our profession. We are listening for sounds,” said Alexander Kresan, head of the ministry of emergency sitiuations search teams for Siberia.
“We are not resting one minute. I have 16 divers working day and night shifts,” he added on Wednesday.
Wednesday was an official day of mourning in the local region of Khakassia, a remote area in the mountains of southern Siberia, where the massive dam spanning the Yenisei River is a major source of both pride and energy supplies.
A meeting between local officials and relatives of the missing at a cultural centre in the town of Cheryomushky two kilometres (one mile) from the plant turned stormy as relatives demanded to know what was happening.
“We don’t want secrets! If my son is dead then fine, tell me. I went to the morgue last night and they wouldn’t tell me anything,” said a man who gave his name as Viktor.
“I know my husband is still alive. There is a cushion of air there where he could be. Why haven’t you drained the water there?” demanded Lena Petrovna, wife of one of the missing at the plant.
Some 100 workers were in the main turbine room early on Monday at Russia’s biggest hydroelectric plant when a massive wave of water flooded in.
The authorities have yet to give a clear indication over how this came about, with explanations ranging from a sudden pressure surge to a fault with one of the turbines.
With officials under pressure to show they are in control of the situation, Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu attacked individuals who he said were guilty of sowing panic amongst the population.
On Monday “there was a constant flow of panickedinformation and we only managed to calm things down by the second half of the day when we explained what was going on,” he said.
“Bad information spreads fast and good information slowly. We are not hiding anything from anyone,” he added, blasting false information he said had appeared on Moscow-based Internet blogs.
The funerals of four victims of the tragedy were held at a cemetery in the nearby town of Mayno amid disbelief that the official death toll was still no higher than a dozen.
“You need a whole section of the cemetery to be set apart for the dead. I don’t think anyone is alive anymore,” bitterly remarked Tatyana Nikitinskaya, an employee of the power station who was attending the funeral.
Fatal accidents are frequent occurrences at often ageing energy facilities across the former Soviet Union. But the scale and manner of the potential loss of life, and the impact on power supply, make this accident exceptional.
Investigators have ruled out a terror attack as a cause of the accident but a criminal inquiry had been opened for neglecting the rules of safety at work.
The power station has now shut down completely amid questions about how the region will make up the energy shortfall without raising prices for consumers.
The station which was built under the Soviet Union between 1968 and 1985 is the biggest in Russia and also one of the most powerful in the world with a capacity of 6.4 million kilowatts an hour.
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