14.06.2007

Tower crane kills four

Reports are coming in of a tower crane collapse at the Boguchany hydro power plant in central Siberia that has killed “four operators”. Strong winds are being blamed for the tower cranes failure although local reports seem to indicate that the crane was being worked on at the time.

A special commission has been established to investigate the incident and local prosecutors have also launched a probe to try and find the cause of the accident.
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The Boguchany hydro power plant site this morning

Igor Klishta, chief expert at the Boguchany HPP, said: "The administration of the Boguchany HPP has pledged assistance to any injured workers and financial compensation to relatives of those killed."

Construction of the Boguchany hydro Power plant began way back in the 1980s, but came to a halt in 1994. Unified Energy System of Russia transferred control of the project to HydroOGK in February 2005 and construction activity has restarted.

The completion of the project is classified as a priority with the local government providing support to complete it by 2010.