suspects
A third suspect was detained for service delivery that failed to meet safety requirements, which caused a fire at a shopping mall in Khimki and the death of one person. Telegraph channel of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation in the Moscow region.
The investigation is said to be ongoing. The investigation reveals “all the circumstances of the incident and those whose faults the tragic consequences occurred.”
According to the Telegram channel of the Cheka-OGPU, the detainee is Alexander Makarov, head of the TSK Delta-Stroy LLC division. The report states that this company “is working at OBI facilities at the behest of Mega owner INGKA CENTRS.”
The report also claims that Makarov supervises the work only during the day shift and is not responsible for fire safety at night. According to the Cheka-OGPU, “the fire broke out while working the night shift.”
The VChK-OGPU alleges that the head of the TAF Delta-Stroy tried to bribe the suspect Makarov’s lawyer to give the “required” statement.
Mash Telegram channel reported that on 13 December, Makarov had a three-hour conflict with the TAF Delta-Stroy director.
Previously, 36-year-old welder Denis Sagitov and 42-year-old foreman Ilnur Shaikhutdinov were detained. The latter was responsible for the welding work at OBI.
“An investigator from the Khimki city investigation department of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Moscow Region Investigative Committee of Russia detained a foreman and a welder of a construction and technical company, suspected of providing services that do not meet safety requirements. The incident that led to a large fire and the death of a person in a shopping center in the city of Khimki (p. . “Part 2 of article 238 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation”)”, – is called on the SC website. According to this article, they can be sentenced to imprisonment of up to six years.
Citing law enforcement, TASS reported that Sagitov had “previously been convicted of theft and drug trafficking.”
What happened?
On December 9, welding work was carried out on the roof of the Mega Khimki shopping center building. According to the researchers, they did not meet the safety requirements. At around 6 o’clock in the morning, a fire broke out in an area of 250 square meters due to sparks. m, later increased to 7 thousand square meters. m, and then up to 18 thousand square meters. m writes TASS.
The hypermarket contained paint and varnish products, construction and other combustible materials. There was an explosion during the fire, probably these were gas cylinders. Then, according to the emergency services, the structures began to collapse.
More than 140 people and 47 pieces of equipment were involved in extinguishing the fire. The fire was extinguished for about seven hours, the overhanging ceilings inside the hypermarket made it difficult for the firefighters. The OBI building was completely burned, but the fire did not spread to the Mega Khimki shopping center.
Those in this building were evacuated. There is one dead – the 63-year-old security guard of the store, Sergey Smurov. He worked at the private security company “Union of Security Service”. According to the news of the Mash Telegram channel, a metal structure fell on it. He was pulled out from under the rubble by the site’s security chief. However, Smurov received an injury incompatible with life.
Emergency services reported that the caretaker stayed to look after the fire and collapsed onto the ceiling as a result of the explosion. “When the fire started in the OBI hypermarket there were three security guards, they managed to leave the building. At the same time, one of them stayed by the hypermarket to look after the fire. A piece of construction fell on the man’s head when the explosion occurred, as a result of which he died on the spot, ”the TASS interlocutor said.
The press service of the OBI dealer said that the security guards were evacuated along with the other employees of the store, but one of them died when he returned to the parking lot to pick up his car.
The company is ready to support the Smurov family. He left a wife and a son in the Ivanovo region. Colleagues and relatives say that he is a wonderful person.
About 30 witnesses to the state of emergency have already been questioned. The investigators also examined the cars standing nearby – they seized 10 system units and 6 servers, a welding machine, an electric arrester in the parking lot, and also took the siphons and technical documentation of the building and the construction organization that performed the repair work. Searches were made, necessary forensic examinations were made.
The All-Russian Union of Insurers pre-assessed the damage caused by the fire. According to experts, 20-30 billion rubles, which will be a record for Russia in terms of insurance loss for such facilities.
security check
After the emergency, the official Telegram channel of the administration of the Khimki city district reported that the Mega shopping center is operating in accordance with technical requirements.
“The last scheduled inspection of the inspected facility was five years ago, after which non-critical violations were revealed, including in the fire protection area. Repeated monitoring in August 2018 showed that all violations were eliminated,” the post writes.
The Baza Telegram channel writes that a fire safety check was held at OBI two weeks ago. It was allegedly started by the shopping mall management. The publication states that no violations were detected. The Ministry of Emergencies reported that all systems are operating normally.
To save businesses from an unnecessary burden, the Russian authorities placed a moratorium on regular labor inspections on March 10 and extended until 2023 at the end of October.
According to the Izvestia newspaper, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Security and Anti-Corruption Committee Anatoly Vyborny called on the Minister of Civil Defense, Emergency Situations and Disaster Relief Alexander Kurenkov to lift the moratorium.
The deputy noted that large commercial facilities, which were not checked by the Ministry of Emergencies in Russia, have recently burned down.
“Neither planned or unplanned that a moratorium is imposed, in the meantime, it will be carried out if there are complaints. Almost everywhere this is due to non-compliance with fire safety rules, negligence of fire safety workers, ”says Vyborny.
He emphasized that non-compliance with fire safety rules poses a threat to the life and health of many people. According to the parliamentarian, in such situations one should be guided by the principle of “Trust but verify”.