Why did they stop searching for missing miners in the Amur region?

The rescue operation at the Pioneer mine in the Amur region, where a collapse occurred on March 18, has been stopped due to the threat of repeated collapses and the risk to rescuers.

13 miners who were trapped underground will be considered dead, this fact was stated by the director of the mine, Alexey Afanasyev. He explained that all the voids inside the mine where workers could hide are filled with water, clay and ice. So there was no chance of saving them.

The rescue operation lasted two weeks

The press service of Pokrovsky Mine JSC, which owns Pioneer, explainedthat the decision to stop work was made on April 1 by the head of the emergency response based on the recommendations of the technical council. It consisted of representatives of the mine itself, the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Paramilitary Mine Rescue Unit.

Alexey Afanasyev clarified that rescuers drilled five wells into different horizons of the mine workings.

He added that there are no people above the level at which the mine is full, which was known in the first days of the rescue operation.

In addition, there is a possibility of repeated rock collapse and flooding, as well as partial collapse of the quarry. There also remains the threat of a breakthrough of the watered rock mass, which accumulates in the bowl of the quarry, and it is now impossible to pump it out, Afanasyev clarified.

“For the first few days, VGSCH rescuers and mine employees carried out their work with little regard for the threat. At that time, this risk was justified, but as information became available, we began to understand that it was simply impossible to put the lives of rescuers at risk, taking into account the available information about the state of the mine,” the director explained.

The bodies won't be found until the mine is secured.

Officially, 13 miners who were tried to reach have not yet been declared dead. But from Afanasyev’s words we can conclude that this is a fact. He has already expressed condolences to his family and friends; psychologists from the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations are working with them. The management intends to provide financial assistance to the families by paying the workers' annual salaries.

The bodies of miners will be found and removed from the mine only after ensuring the safety of the work, the press service of the enterprise reported. “We will return to this issue. For now, you can’t work in the mine at all—it’s dangerous,” the representatives said. They did not indicate an approximate time frame for when work might resume and the bodies would be found.

Provide financial assistance to the families of deceased miners from the reserve fund of the government of the Amur region promised and the regional governor Vasily Orlov. He also thanked everyone who risked their lives in the rescue operation. “I’m sure the specialists did everything in their power,” he said.

The TASS source also reported that they are already planning to erect a memorial at the mine in memory of the 13 dead miners. “In the plans [мемориал] there is, will be discussed with relatives,” he noted.

The violations that were detected at Pioneer last year are named

The Rostekhnadzor Commission reported RIA News, which is investigating the causes of the rock collapse, and it is premature to talk about specific causes and versions of the emergency before its end. “The design and working documentation is being analyzed, and interviews with eyewitnesses and officials are being conducted,” the department noted.

Rostekhnadzor added that in 2023 they carried out a scheduled inspection, then nine violations of industrial safety requirements were found at Pioneer. They were voiced: for example, in the ventilation exit of one of the ore zones, the mountain support did not ensure safe operation; the uneven road surface did not allow the car to move without sudden jolts; information on the commissioning of the capital construction facility was not provided; there was no certification in the field of industrial safety for contractors.

It is clarified that eight violations have been eliminated, but one has not, and the deadline for its elimination has not yet expired. It is not specified which problem was not resolved.

Two Rostechnadzor employees who inspected the mine were suspected of negligence

April 1 also became knownthat two employees of the regional department of Rostekhnadzor were detained on suspicion of negligence due to the collapse. The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation states that it was they who inspected the mine in 2022 and 2023, and allegedly did not reveal gross violations of the law on industrial safety.

This made it possible to “carry out maintenance activities at a dangerous production facility with gross violations,” investigators noted. It is clarified that the deputy head and senior inspector of the department for supervision of hazardous production facilities in the Amur region of the Far Eastern Directorate of Rostechnadzor were detained.

Earlier, investigators also brought charges against the managing director of the Pioneer mine. He is in custody. He is suspected of violating safety requirements during work.

A collapse at the Pioneer mine in the Zeya
district of the Amur region occurred on the evening of March 18. 13 people were trapped under the rubble; their last location was recorded at a depth of 147 meters. The volume of collapsed rock was estimated at 194.5 thousand cubic meters.