Support The Moscow Times!

3 Dead in Factory Roof Collapse Outside Moscow

Emergency Situations Ministry

Three workers were killed and at least four injured when a roof collapsed at a concrete products plant outside Moscow on Monday morning.

Dramatic surveillance footage showed several workers in uniforms being struck by the collapsing roof in Dzerzhinsky, a suburb 30 kilometers east of Moscow. Local media’s drone footage depicting the aftermath of the incident showed a rectangular hole inside a warehouse-type building at the local Tekhnogroup plant.

Investigators, who opened a criminal case into safety rule violations, said the roof had collapsed “under the weight of insulation and blocks” during weatherproofing works.

“Three workers directly on the roof died when it collapsed, four workers who were inside [the building] have been hospitalized with various injuries,” investigators said in an online statement Monday.

The head of the Dzerzhinsky municipality, Vitaly Panamorenko, told Moscow region’s 360TV broadcaster that the roof had collapsed under the weight of a “large refrigerator.”

“There had been no serious snowstorms that could be blamed,” he was quoted as saying.

Read more