Shakhan residents ask authorities to build new boiler in village

The farewell ceremony was held Wednesday, January 4.

Local activists raised the issue of building a new boiler in a conversation with akim Nurmukhambet Abdibekov, who had come to Shakhan to express condolences to the families of the victims.

“Please, build a boiler. You see, how many people gathered here! It we had a new boiler, no one would die,” pensioner Galina Stolyarova said.

Local people say that the village has already had similar incidents before.

“This is not the first case. Fortunately, there were no victims in the two previous situations. Our first request is to build a new boiler in the village,” activists noted addressing akim of Shakhtinsk town and Majilis deputies.  

“This tragedy killed nine people including three children. We have no words to describe the feelings of each citizen of Shakhan, who mourn over the victims together with their families. We could avoid the tragedy if there were a new boiler in Shakhan. You know, feasibility study of the boiler is ready and it has already been examined. The construction of the boiler was postponed due to lack of funds (the project was estimated at 2.8bln tenge). We are asking to solve this issue at the governmental level,” their message reads.

118 people were in the building at the moment of tragedy. 30 people lived in the collapsed part. The residents were evacuated. Most of them were placed with their relatives.

9 bodies (3 men, 3 women and 3 children) were retrieved from the rubble.  

The emergencies units of Karaganda region received information about the building collapse at 10:40 pm January 1. Emergency services immediately rushed to the scene to evacuate the survivors. Investigation is underway.