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.
HOLLYWOOD IN TURMOIL: Mandy Moore, Paris Hilton and Cary Elwes lost properties to the flames, while awards events planned for this week have been delayed Fires burning in and around Los Angeles have claimed the homes of numerous celebrities, including Billy Crystal, Mandy Moore and Paris Hilton, and led to sweeping disruptions of entertainment events, while at least five people have died. Three awards ceremonies planned for this weekend have been postponed. Next week’s Oscar nominations have been delayed, while tens of thousands of city residents had been displaced and were awaiting word on whether their homes survived the flames — some of them the city’s most famous denizens. More than 1,900 structures had been destroyed and the number was expected to increase. More than 130,000 people
Some things might go without saying, but just in case... Belgium’s food agency issued a public health warning as the festive season wrapped up on Tuesday: Do not eat your Christmas tree. The unusual message came after the city of Ghent, an environmentalist stronghold in the country’s East Flanders region, raised eyebrows by posting tips for recycling the conifers on the dinner table. Pointing with enthusiasm to examples from Scandinavia, the town Web site suggested needles could be stripped, blanched and dried — for use in making flavored butter, for instance. Asked what they thought of the idea, the reply
US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen on Monday met virtually with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) and raised concerns about “malicious cyber activity” carried out by Chinese state-sponsored actors, the US Department of the Treasury said in a statement. The department last month reported that an unspecified number of its computers had been compromised by Chinese hackers in what it called a “major incident” following a breach at contractor BeyondTrust, which provides cybersecurity services. US Congressional aides said no date had been set yet for a requested briefing on the breach, the latest in a serious of cyberattacks
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RSS