The number of people who had some accidents on the premises of mining enterprises based in Ural Federal District in the first half of 2007 falls short of that for January-June 2006 by 30.8% (there were 72 victims compared with 104 a year earlier). Most accidents (56 instances altogether) occurred in Sverdlovsk Region, the spokesperson for the regional division of Rostechnadzor (the state environmental and technological safety watchdog) reports.

There were 13 grave accidents liable to special investigations, including seven cases that took place underground, five cases related to open cast mining, and one case that took place at the grinding and sorting plant.

The last major accident took place at Nizhneserginsky Metallurgical and Hardware Plant on May 11, 2007 when a major blow-out of steam and cinder was emitted by the steel-smelting furnace. Eight people were wounded, with one of them passing away later on in a hospital in Yekaterinburg and the other victims getting very badly hurt and burnt.

All the grave accidents (including the ones with lethal outcomes or the ones that led to several people getting hurt) have been investigated. The culprits were brought to disciplinary and administrative responsibility by both the enterprises’ management and Rostechnadzor.