Three people died after the partial collapse of one of the processing plants of Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel, the company said on Saturday.
The processing plant was undergoing maintenance at the time of Saturday’s incident, according to Reuters.
Production safety at Norilsk Nickel locations recently came under public scrutiny after a major fuel leak at its plant located near the Russian city of Norilsk and several minor accidents that occurred in 2020, the outlet noted.
Since then, Norilsk has pledged to invest $ 1.4 billion over five years to develop its industrial security measures.
“This accident shows that, apparently, these efforts are not enough, and we, taking responsibility for what happened, are going to tighten the requirements for industrial safety and those responsible for it”, Vladimir Potanin, CEO of Nornickel and largest shareholder, he told Reuters.
According to Nornickel, the plant still continues to operate with partial restrictions. A regional committee opened a criminal investigation into the incident, Reuters reported.
The company was fined $ 2 billion earlier this month for damage caused by the fuel spill last year. A regional committee opened a criminal investigation into the incident.