The Russian technological safety regulator's report named Georgy Lavrik, director general of the Yuzhkuzbassugol company, the mine owner, among those to blame for the accident at the Yubileinaya mine. The commission also estimated the economic damage caused by the explosion at $6.5 million.
Governor lawsuit
Aman Tuleyev, governor of the Kemerovo Region where the accident took place, said Friday he was suing the head of the technological safety regulator, Konstantin Pulikovsky, for libel.
"I have filed a suit against Pulikovsky for saying the governor was aware of what was happening at the mine," Tuleyev said. "I think it is libel."
Pulikovsky, the head of the watchdog, said the inquiry commission was not authorized to rule on anyone's fault, and added its conclusions would be adopted regardless of Tuleyev's opinion, a member of the commission who is refusing to endorse the inquiry conclusions.
Tuleyev, who has been in office for 16 years, said watchdog officials were responsible for the tragedy because they had endorsed the project design of the mine. "I consider the Federal Service for the Oversight of the Environment, Technology and Nuclear Management is to blame," the 63-year-old governor said, adding the incorrect design had led to methane accumulation.
Andrei Malakhov, the regional head of the local technological safety regulator, concurred with Tuleyev, and said the inquiry was biased. He announced his resignation Thursday.
Pulikovsky said the inquiry report would be sent to the government and the prosecutor's office.
"We do not decide who is at fault, it is up to investigators and prosecutors," he said.
Mine ownership transfer
The head of the company owning the mine said the deal to sell Yuzhkuzbassugol's shares to Evraz Group, a leading Russian steel and mining group, to make its ownership 100% had not yet been concluded. The deal was announced in the wake of the mine blast and as a way to modernize the mine and prevent accidents in the future.
"The deal is in progress, and Yuzhkuzbassugol's board of directors will meet late next week," Georgy Lavrik, implicated in the inquiry report, said, adding that about 150 million rubles ($6 million) had been paid in compensation to the victims' families.
Evraz currently holds a 50% stake in the company and controls 12 mines in the region. Yuzhkuzbassugol, the country's largest underground coal mining company, also owns another mine, Ulyanovskaya, in the Kemerovo Region, where a methane blast killed 110 people March 19.
Coal production
A Yuzhkuzbassugol official, Sergei Gorbatov, said coal production at the Yubileinaya mine could resume in July.
"Production at the section hit by the accident will be closed, but production at another section will begin in July," he said.
The mine has estimated reserves of 12-13 million tons of coal, which could last 12 years.
Gorbatov also said the other mine, Ulyanovskaya, would be ready for expert inspection next week and production there could be resumed in July, given expert approval.
