Sewage failure declared as reason of mass poisoning in Dagestan

In Dagestan, Magomed Murtazaliev, Director General of the OJSC "Mahachkalavodokanal", has been detained on suspicion of providing services that violate consumers' safety.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 27, residents of Makhachkala complained about supply of dirty water after the works at the Miatlinskaya HPP. Since that day, reports began to arrive about hospitalization of locals with symptoms of acute intestinal infection. To date, according to the Ministry of Public Health of Dagestan, 345 people, including 246 children, are still in hospitals.

"For about 10 days Dagestan was hit by rains; the sewers failed; and wastewater got into the potable water supplies, which caused poisoning," Ramazan Abdulatipov, the head of Dagestan, said today at his meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

According to his story, "the [sewage] system was not repaired; and many institutions, including the 'Vodokanal', were given to relatives of former leaders; and these people pumped out money for years and in fact allocated no funds for reconstruction and repairs."

"A criminal case has been opened; we'll trace these issues and restore order very toughly," Mr Abdulatipov has promised.

The "Rospotrebnadzor" has blamed the "Mahachkalavodokanal" for the mass poisoning.

Today, Magomed Murtazaliev, Director General of the OJSC "Mahachkalavodokanal", was detained. The bodies of preliminary investigation are going to ask the court to restrain his freedom by placing him into custody, the website of the Investigating Department for Dagestan of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) has reported today.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.