Listvyazhnaya coalmine operator's co-owner, CEO say ready to take responsibility for mine incident

MOSCOW. Dec 2 (Interfax) - SDS Holding President Mikhail Fedyayev and SDS-Ugol Director General Gennady Alekseyev have admitted their responsibility for an incident at the Listvyazhnaya coalmine.

"External factors officially showed that everything there [at the mine] is great, but I have to acknowledge that it was only a seeming stability, because the death of 51 people catastrophically nullifies all the previous achievements and victories. [...] I want to apologize and bow my head, I'm ready to bear all punishments," Alekseyev said at a meeting on the situation in the region's coal industry being held by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In turn, Fedyayev emphasized that he does not shrug off responsibility for what happened.

"We have never saved on safety and protective equipment, all the necessary funds have always been allocated, and the newest and most advanced equipment has been bought. There is a three-stage control system at the mine, starting with gas analyzers on lamps, then the Mikon-3 system itself, plus portable gas analyzers. It turns out that the human factor ruined all that. [...] I stand ready to take any responsibility," he said.

The incident at the Listvyazhnaya mine in the Belovo urban district of the Kemerovo region occurred in the morning of November 25, in which 51 people have died, including five mine rescuers. To date, it has been possible to bring the bodies of 16 dead to the surface.