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Criminal case opened over Moscow building collapse

All the circumstances and causes of the collapse are being ascertained

Photo ITAR-TASS

Photo ITAR-TASS

MOSCOW, April 17 (Itar-Tass) — Criminal proceedings have been instituted under Article 216, part 2 of the RF Criminal Code (violation of safety rules during construction work) over the collapse of a building in southern Moscow that resulted in death and injuries of people, head of the Russian Investigative Committee’s (SK) main department for Moscow Vadim Yakovenko, who is at the scene, told Itar-Tass.

“According to preliminary data of the investigation, a building owned by the JSC Horizon Real Estate Investment Trust collapsed. The collapse occurred during construction works during the building’s capital repairs,” Yakovenko said.

According to him, the examination of the accident scene is currently underway, all the circumstances and causes of the collapse are being ascertained.

Ten 10 people were injured as a result of the building collapse, one of them died. Other injured were hospitalised. All the incident victims are workers, presumably from CIS countries. Their identities are being established.

Rescuers have been trying to find out if there are more people under the rubble. “Representatives of the building firm have not yet arrived at the site,” law enforcers said. According to the source, the construction firm is Invest-City.

“It is an industrial zone where several facilities are under construction,” the source pointed out.

The press service of the Moscow department of the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry (EMERCOM) specified that it was most likely a production building.

“The debris clearing operation continues. Two teams with sniffer dogs are examining the wreckage,” an EMERCOM representative said. A total of 260 people are engaged in the debris clearing efforts, 146 of them are specialists of the Emergency Situations Ministry. They use nearly 40 heavy machinery units.

According to earlier police reports, the area of the ·· collapse was 2.5 thousand square metres. The monolithic building of 5-6 storeys in Proyektriruyemy Lane collapsed completely. The thickness of the debris is 10 metres.

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