MOSCOW, June 3. /TASS/. The maximum permissible concentrations of contaminants in the water bodies in Norilsk are exceeded by tens of thousands times following an accident at the local thermal power plant, Head of the environmental watchdog Rosprirodnadzor Svetlana Radionova said on Wednesday.

"About 25 samples have been selected. It has been found that the maximum permissible levels are exceeded in water areas by tens of thousands times," she said at a government meeting with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

A diesel fuel tank leaked at the Thermal Power Plant No. 3 in Norilsk in the afternoon of May 29. Following this, a vehicle drove into the spill site, causing a fire. Overall, about 20,000 tonnes of fuel spilled.

The regional Prosecutor’s Office has organized an inspection involving specialists of the Yenisei branch of the country’s industrial safety watchdog Rostekhnadzor, the Emergencies Ministry’s Main Department for the Krasnoyarsk Region and the regional branch of the Federal Agency for Fishing to find the causes of the accident and eliminate its consequences, as well as to estimate the damage.

Following the prosecutors’ check, criminal cases have been opened under part 1, article 254 (‘Land Degradation’) and article 250 (‘Water Pollution’) of Russia’s Criminal Code.