Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- On 18 December 2019, at 10:20 a.m., a slope of a pit dug for the construction of metro station facilities collapsed on the territory of the Yunusabad line station under construction of the Tashkent Metro.

The cause of the collapse was the flooding of the pit slope due to continuous heavy rains. According to the Center for Hydrometeorology of the Republic of Uzbekistan, on 18 December 2019, in the Yunusabad district of the city of Tashkent, from 07:40 to 15:50 hours, the amount of precipitation amounted to 12 mm, which is much higher than in the rest of the city.

As a result of the accident, the collapsed mass covered one employee of the Samarkand distance of the track of the Bukhara regional railway junction of Uzbekistan Temir Yollari and five workers involved in the construction by the subcontractor SBK UNIVERSAL CONSTRUCTION GROUP LLC.

On behalf of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, a Government Commission was promptly created to study the causes and consequences of the incident, to implement the necessary measures to prevent such incidents at the facilities of the overground and underground metro.

As a result of search and rescue operations on 19 December 2019, the bodies of all the above workers were found. They were delivered to the addresses of their actual registration. The administration of Uzbekiston Temir Yollari and local authorities provided all-round support to the families of the victims, including in organizing the funeral. As an initial compensation, the management of Uzbekiston Temir Yollari and SBK UNIVERSAL CONSTRUCTION GROUP LLC paid the families of the victims 100 million soums each.

By the decision of the Government Commission, the Ministry of Employment and Labor Relations of the Republic of Uzbekistan issued a conclusion on the payment of a one-time compensation in connection with the loss of a wet nurse to the families of 5 deceased workers of SBK UNIVERSAL CONSTRUCTION GROUP LLC for 261.94 million soums, as well as to the family of the deceased employee of the Samarkand the track distance of the Bukhara regional railway junction of Uzbekiston Temir Yollari for 281 million soums.

All lump sum payments to the families of the victims have been made. In addition to these funds, family members of the victims are paid monthly compensation in the following amounts:

- wife, two daughters, one son of the deceased Diyarov Anvar – 727,600 soums each;

- the pensioner - the mother of the deceased Abdullayev Davron – 1.21 million soums each;

- pensioners - father and mother, as well as the son and daughter of the deceased Abdullaev Oybek – 606,340 soums each;

- pensioners father and mother, daughter, as well as the wife of the deceased Ravshonov Janibek – 519,720 soums each;

- three daughters, one son and wife of the deceased Karimov Zarif Tulkinovich – 650,600 soums each.

Compensation for children will be paid until they reach the age of 16. The wives of the victims - until their youngest children reach the age of 3, the parents of the victims - for life. In the family of the deceased Rakhmatov Ikhtiyor, consisting of 4 people, no disabled persons have been identified and the payment of compensation to family members is not required under the legislation of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

For the weakening of control over the implementation of construction work at subordinate enterprises and the admission of a group fatal accident, acting Isaev Kudrat Toshpulatovich, manager of the Kuprikkurilish trust, was relieved of his post by order of Uzbekiston Temir Yollari from 22 January 2020 No.NOK-54 in accordance with Article 99 of the Labor Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Construction work on the Yunusabad metro line was completed in July 2020. The line was put into operation at the end of August 2020. Since the day the line was put into operation, no shortcomings and omissions have been identified, all stations and metro tunnels operate in accordance with the established norms and standards, there have been no comments or complaints from passengers.

The prosecutor’s office of the city of Tashkent initiated a criminal case under article 257, part 2, paragraph "a" and article 258, part 2, paragraph "a" in relation to what happened at the site of the metro station under construction. In the course of the investigation, it was established that in the actions of the deputy head of Bridge Construction Crew No.67 of the Kuprikkurilish Trust of Uzbekiston Temir Yollari (in charge of construction) O. Alimov, the superintendent of the detachment S. Bobojonov, the foreman of the detachment for construction works Ashurov S., senior inspector on the construction and installation work of the production department of the "Directorate for the construction of metro lines" UE "Toshkent metro" Mukhamedrakhimova B., there were some signs envisaged in paragraphs "a" and "b", part 2, article 257 and paragraphs "a" and "b", Part 2, Article 258. However, given that they had not previously been convicted and filed a statement about the completion of the criminal case against them, the absence of claims against them from the relatives of the deceased, as well as their positive characteristics, in accordance with paragraph 2, Part 5, Article 84 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the criminal case against these citizens was terminated.