A court in Moscow has sent to pretrial detention the director-general of the company that organized an excursion into Moscow’s sewer tunnels for seven people, all of whom along with a guide died over the weekend following heavy rain.
Aleksandr Kim, head of the company Sputnik, as well as Nikita Dubas, an organizer of the tour, were sent by a Moscow court to pretrial detention on August 24. They both pleaded not guilty to the charge of "providing services that do not correspond to safety standards that resulted in death."
According to Russia's Investigative Committee, the homes of several people allegedly involved in the organization of the excursion were also searched.
The statement said the tour was conducted illegally as access to Moscow’s sewage tunnels is prohibited unless authorized, adding that "a number of individuals" had been added to the wanted list.
"The tour's organizers assured persons who were buying the excursions that they were safe, while entering the underground premises illegally. Only employees of the city's special services can be present in such underground premises," the Investigative Committee's statement said.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin expressed condolences to the victims' relatives and friends.
Heavy rain hit the Russian capital during the excursion into the underground water drainage system on August 20, leaving no chance for the group to survive, Russian media cited an emergency official as saying.
Media reports identified six of the victims as the 47-year-old chief of a PR department of a private company, Dmitry Markushin, his 15-year-old daughter Yelizaveta, 17-year-old Gleb Lagashin, 15-year-old Viktoria Shneider, 34-year-old Darya Bykova, and the group's guide, Konstantin Filippov.
The Investigative Committee has said it is investigating Sputnik for "providing services that do not correspond to safety standards that resulted in death."
The Russian Criminal Code envisages a punishment of up to 10 years in prison for people convicted of such a crime.