Measures to extinguish the fire at the Orsha plant were taken promptly and professionally - Ministry of Emergency Situations

May 25, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. All measures at the Orsha Meat Canning Plant during the fire liquidation were taken promptly and professionally. This was announced today at a briefing by the head of the Vitebsk Regional Emergency Situations Department, Vasily Chekan, BELTA correspondent reports. At the enterprise, measures were taken in a timely manner to rescue people who found themselves in the smoke zone, ammonia was pumped out, the premises were de-energized, a liquidation headquarters was promptly deployed with the participation of the chairman of the Orsha City Executive Committee and the director of the plant, and emergency response forces from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the prosecutor's office, and the Department of Internal Affairs were concentrated at the scene of the incident as quickly as possible. Vasily Chekan noted that in March, training sessions were held in the refrigeration workshop, during which employees' actions in case of ammonia leakage were practiced. Thus, people were trained and knew how to act in an emergency. "The deceased workers of the refrigeration workshop showed heroism, trying to independently extinguish the fire using primary fire extinguishing means, but did not take into account the deadly danger of inhaling poisonous combustion products. The exact cause of death has yet to be established," Vasily Chekan emphasized, adding that they had a chance to save themselves: there were escape routes behind them. The presumed cause of the fire was a violation of fire safety regulations during hot work. Based on the incident, the Orsha prosecutor's office has opened a criminal case under Article 306, Part 3 of the Criminal Code "Violation of labor protection rules, resulting in the death of two or more persons due to negligence." "However, this version has not been confirmed, so the case will most likely be reclassified based on the investigation results," added the prosecutor of the Vitebsk region, Gennady Dysko. The fire in the gallery of the plant's refrigeration workshop occurred on May 24. As a result, four employees of the enterprise - three men and one woman - died. Personnel of the Ministry of Emergency Situations units, using gas and smoke protection service teams, rescued 9 people and evacuated 14. None of the rescued required medical assistance. -0-