Environmental prosecution bodies of Chelyabinsk Region took criminal action following the fracture of TON (Tuymazy-Omsk-Novosibirsk) oil-trunk pipeline in Satkinskiy District, their spokesperson said to UrBC representative.

The accident occured during construction works on October 20-23, 2006. The diameter of the pipeline comes to 720 millimeters, the pressure amounts to 20 atm. The accident involves an oil spill, with the threat of poisoning the River Bolshaya Satka. The estimated scale of the spill comes to 400 cubic meters, with the contaminated area coming to 5,500 square meters, including 3,000 square meters along the shores of the river and 2,000 meters of the river itself. The epicenter of the accident covers the village of Romanovka with the population of 255 people.

Alongside with the teams of rescuers, the site was supervised by the public prosecution authorities of Satkinskiy District, following the order of Prosecutor Alexander Voitovitch to carry out an investigation of the tragedy.

The representatives of regional environmental prosecution bodies and of Rosprirodnadzor and Rostechnadzor (two environmental and technological safety monitoring entities) arrived on October 24, 2006 to join in the investigation process. The criminal case involving violation of environmental protection regulations during construction work (Article 246 of Russian Criminal Code) was placed with the court on the same day.

The committee of inquiry believes that the managers of the contractor and from the oil-trunk administration failed to comply with the requirements stated in Article 46 of the Federal Law on Environmental Protection (passed on January 10, 2002).

The investigation is supervised by the Prosecutor Alexander Voitovitch.