Three people have died following the partial collapse of one of the processing plants of one of Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel, the company said Saturday.
According to Reuters, the processing plant was under maintenance at the time of Saturday’s incident.
Production security at Norilsk Nickel’s sites has recently come under public scrutiny following a major fuel leak at the power plant near the Russian city of Norilsk and multiple minor accidents that occurred in 2020, the outlet said.
Norilsk has since pledged to invest $ 1.4 billion over five years in establishing its industrial security measures.
“This accident shows that these efforts are apparently not enough, and if we accept responsibility for what happened, we will tighten the requirements for industrial safety and for the people responsible for it,” said Vladimir Potanin, CEO of Nornickel and its largest shareholder, said Reuters.
According to Nornickel, the plant is still running with partial restrictions. A regional committee started 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 started a criminal investigation into the incident.