Yabloko Party calls for inquiry into Kuban floods
MOSCOW. July 7 (Interfax) - The Yabloko Party claims to have obtained information that the multiple deaths in the Krymsk district in the Kuban region were caused by a discharge of water from a nearby mountain reservoir.
"As Yabloko activists in Krasnodar have found out, the sudden rise in water level in the town of Krymsk last night was caused by an unplanned discharge from the Neberdzhayevskoye reservoir located in the mountains above the town. The population was not notified about the discharge, which is one of the reasons of the tragedy," Yabloko leader Sergei Mitrokhin said in a statement.
The Yabloko Party demands that the Russian Investigative Committee launch a criminal inquiry under Article 292 part three of the Russian Penal Code (official negligence resulting in death) and that officials, including senior federal and regional emergency officials in the Krasnodar Territory and Krymsk District, be held to account.
"(Officials) failed to take measures to ensure safe operation of the Neberdzhayevskoye reservoir" and "did not inform the district residents about the danger of a dam break due to the start of heavy showers," the party said.
According to the latest reports, the death toll from the floods in the Kuban region soared to 99, including 88 deaths in the Krymsk district, the Russian Interior Ministry's emergency headquarters told Interfax.
