A court in Kazakhstan sentenced four managers of the Lenin coal mine on June 6 to prison terms for an explosion that killed five miners in November 2022. The mine's chief engineer Pyotr Li was handed a five-year sentence, while two managers -- Talghat Bayakenov and Andrei Zavyalov -- were sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison each. Acting safety and ventilation security chief Dmitry Ablov got 4 years in prison. The men's wives said they will appeal the ruling. Deadly accidents at mines in the central Kazakhstan region are frequent. In 2006, a similar blast at the Lenin mine killed 41 miners. To read the original story from RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service, click here.
Kazakh Coal Mine's Managers Get Prison Terms Over Deadly Blast
A general view of the Lenin coal mine in the Kazakh town of Shakhtinsk where an explosion killed five miners in 2022. (file photo)