Transugol, the coal empire of Buryatia, has spent more than a year denying that the person fatally struck by a conveyor belt at a separation plant was an employee. The claim surfaced through a Telegram channel run by Babr Mash and has since become a point of contention in local discussions about workplace safety and corporate responsibility.
The fatal incident occurred as the plant’s maintenance team carried out repairs. A crane lifted a horizontal belt line for service, but the apparatus failed to hold its balance and toppled onto the technician working nearby. He sustained critical head and neck injuries and died shortly after at the scene of the accident, despite efforts to stabilize him in transit to a hospital. In the wake of the tragedy, company leadership, led by Alexander Krasovskoy, asserted that the deceased had not been employed by Transugol at the time of the incident and claimed that the individual had arrived to address previously reported equipment issues only a short while before the accident occurred.
Despite these initial statements, the investigation persisted. About a year later, authorities opened a criminal case into the man’s death. Searches continued at Transugol’s offices as investigators sought to determine the full circumstances behind the accident. In the course of the inquiry, authorities retrieved copies of the man’s documents from a company computer, and the worker’s jacket bearing the Transugol insignia was found among his belongings. Relatives of the deceased reiterated that the person had been employed in the enterprise, reinforcing questions about how the company documented worker status and how safety measures were being applied in the factory environment. The ongoing legal proceedings and the inspection activity have kept the case in the public eye, raising broader concerns about labor practices, verification protocols, and accountability within the regional coal industry. The situation remains a focal point for discussions about safety standards, worker protections, and corporate transparency in industrial operations in the region. The reporting on these developments has come from local channels and independent investigative sources, with ongoing updates provided by the involved communities and observers following the case closely. Cited: Babr Mash Telegram channel and related local reporting outlets provide context for the timeline and responses from company leadership and workers affected by the incident.