Prosecutors on Monday confiscated documents from firms involved in the construction of a vast Moscow water park left in ruins after the roof collapsed, a disaster that threw a spotlight on the graft said to be rife in the city's construction business.
Twenty-five people were confirmed dead in the accident, which occurred Saturday night. Moscow city prosecutor Vladimir Yudin said four or five people remained unaccounted for. Initially, officials had given a higher figure, but later said that some of those reported missing had been located.
President Vladimir Putin offered his condolences to the victims, saying "the culprits must be punished," while Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Yakovlev called for tougher punishment for those convicted of negligence in construction. Currently, the maximum sentence is five years in prison.
Prosecutors, who have opened a criminal investigation into negligence leading to the deaths, confiscated documents from the architecture and construction companies Monday and collected roof debris for analysis.
A government panel investigating the collapse said it would be ready to issue its preliminary findings by the end of the week.
"Their main task is to look at the foundation, the analysis of the ground conditions, and the design decisions taken ... the quality of metal and concrete used," said Nikolai Koshman, the chief of the government agency in charge of construction.
Experts said that corrosion and insufficient ventilation could have weakened the concrete-and-glass structure and made it more vulnerable. The chlorine vapors and temperature difference "influence the speed at which metal fatigue develops," Valery Goreglyad, a specialist on water parks, was quoted as telling the Izvestia newspaper. With an indoor temperature of 30?C and an outdoor temperature of -15?C, the difference was significant enough to reach a "critical" point for metal, he said.
But Russian media and some experts said that widespread neglect of safety norms and official corruption might have contributed to the disaster.
"On practically any construction site in the capital a system of mass corruption is flourishing -- from receiving licenses to the substitution of one brand of concrete for another cheaper brand or simply for sand," Alexei Klimenko, an adviser to the Moscow mayor, was quoted as telling the Kommersant newspaper.
"The system has collapsed," echoed the daily Vremya Novostei, which alleged that the accident had resulted from cronyism, graft and thefts in the city's construction business.
Yakovlev, the deputy prime minister responsible for construction, pointed to the possibility of negligence.
"A lot is being said now about how Moscow's high-rise buildings have been built in the wrong places or are of poor quality. All the facts need to be double-checked to prevent future negligence -- to put it mildly -- leading to the death of people," Yakovlev said during his meeting with key officials.
Meanwhile, rescuers continued the search for bodies in the rubble, while passers-by laid flowers and a small icon in the snow at the site.
The licenses of the Turkish company that built the park, Kocak Insaat, and the Russian architectural firm that designed it, Sergei Kiselyov and Partners, were suspended pending the probe, Koshman said.
Kiselyov and Partners said on Monday that another firm had designed the building's cupola, which collapsed. Turkish newspapers quoted Ismail Kocak, the Turkish company's owner, as denying responsibility and allegations that low-quality materials were used in construction.
The complex, which opened in 2002, was built in 18 months. It is one of several flashy facilities that have opened in recent years in Moscow, which has seen a major construction boom as the nation's oil-fueled economy has grown following the 1998 financial crisis.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS