Kokpekty flooding: Criminal cases initiated against dam owners and officials

Two criminal cases initiated with respect to employees of Buharzhyrau district Akimat and emergency department and against officials of "Shanyrak" Agrofirm" LLP and "Tabigat XXI" LLP. Investigation is underway. As it was previously reported, on March 31 overflowing water flooded nearly 100 houses in Kokpekty village after the dam of a water storage basin burst at 1:30 a.m. local time. Some 125 villagers had been evacuated and five bodies were found by rescuers as the flood water reached as high as 1.5-1.8 meters in the village. Rescuers tried to dig an additional water channel, but failed because of cliffy soil. Some 15 houses are half-destroyed in the village. Kokpekty's population exceeds 2,500 people. The ruptured dam was commissioned in 1951.