Local state of emergency declared in Ridder
A local state of emergency has been declared in the town of Ridder, East Kazakhstan region, after high pressure boilers caught fire and a coal dust explosion at the town’s thermal power plant.
The regional administration is to take over the plant to ensure its smooth operation till the end of the heating season.
According to the region’s governor Daniyal Akhmetov, the plant’s current owners are blamed for ineffective work, building up a dept of up to three billion tenge, facing supply shortages, as well as failing to pay the companies for repairs following the last November incident.
Akhmetov went on to say that 67 shutoffs, fire on high pressure boilers 4 and 5, coal dust explosion had occurred as well as cable and wire products had been burned down at the plant.
Following the inspection of the plant’s activities, over 240 violations of the law were revealed.