Three victims of cable car collapse in Nalchik remain in hospitals

Bastrykin took an interest in the cable car break in Nalchik, after which three victims remain in hospitals. Rostekhnadzor had previously demanded that its operation be suspended, in particular noting the damage to the supporting cable, but the court limited itself to a fine.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" wrote, six of the 12 victims of the cable car break in Nalchik on August 8 remained in the Republican Clinical Hospital of Kabardino-Balkaria, one of them is in serious condition. The Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under the article on the provision of unsafe services resulting in serious bodily harm. All the victims are tourists, the head of the republic said.

The head of the Russian Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, has requested a report on the progress of the investigation into the cable car collapse in Nalchik, during which 12 people were injured, the Investigative Committee reported.

On the evening of August 9, three people injured in the cable car collapse remained in hospitals, TASS reported, citing the Kabardino-Balkaria Ministry of Health.

The cable car that collapsed in Nalchik has been privately owned for 20 years, the city's mayor, Taimuraz Akhokhov, said at a meeting with the head of Kabardino-Balkaria, Kazbek Kokov.

"The cable car itself has been privately owned since February 2005. The owner is OOO Excursionny Kompleks Zhemchuzhina, the director is Vindizheva,” follows from a video posted on Kokov’s Telegram channel on August 8.

At the end of last year, specialists from the Caucasian Department of Rostekhnadzor in Nalchik checked the condition of the Nalchik chairlift and came to the conclusion that its operation violates industrial safety requirements for hazardous production facilities. The court imposed an administrative fine on the owner of Zhemchuzhina LLC, but decided that the cable car can continue to operate, according to documents available to the "Caucasian Knot".

On December 5, 2024, the Nalchik City Court considered the administrative claim of the head of the department for supervision of lifting mechanisms of the Caucasian Department of Rostekhnadzor regarding violations of industrial safety requirements during the operation of the chairlift in Nalchik with a requirement to stop it for 90 days until the identified violations are eliminated.

The experts' conclusion indicates thirty violations of the Federal Law "On Industrial Safety of Hazardous Industrial Facilities" identified during the inspection of the cable car's condition.

Damage to the protective coating of the drive mechanism was detected, and "multiple foci" were found on the supporting cable extrusion of rope strands, in which case the use of the rope is not permitted”, the moving and rotating parts of the cable car were not equipped with protective devices, evacuation methods do not take into account the safety of personnel, create dangers for passengers, etc.

A representative of Rostekhnadzor insisted in court that the operation of the chairlift creates a threat of harm to an indefinite number of people.

A representative of Zhemchuzhina EK LLC, which owns the cable car, acknowledged the claims of the lawsuit at the court hearing and explained that most of the violations had been eliminated.

The court acknowledged that an administrative violation had taken place and imposed a fine of 100 thousand rubles.

The court considered the suspension of the cable car's operations to be an extreme measure.

"No objective data indicating that the operation of the chairlift poses a real threat to the life and health of citizens or the occurrence of an emergency situation was presented to the court, and therefore, there are no grounds for imposing a punishment in the form of suspension of operations," the document states.

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