MOSCOW, July 31 (RAPSI) – Three defendants in a criminal case over a burst dike in a gold mine in Siberia’s Krasnoyarsk Region occurred in the fall of 2019 will go on trial, according to the press service of the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The owner of Sisim gold-mining artel Maxim Kovalkov, mine captain Andrey Yeganov and mine overseer Yevgeny Aleksandrov are charged with violation of safety rules resulted in the death of more than two people.  Earlier, Yeganov pleaded guilty and expressed wish to sign a plea deal, while Kovalkov and Aleksandrov denied their guilt.

In the early hours of October 19, 2019, a technological dam burst in the gold mine, then broke four more and flooded several workers dormitories. As a result, 17 people died and several others are missing.

During the searches, investigators seized the artel’s documents. It was revealed that the dams were built illegally without permit in order to drain groundwater for the purpose of gold mining.