Tiraspol Prosecutor’s Office takes legal action over violation of gas pipeline use rules

The Prosecutor’s Office in Tiraspol instituted legal proceedings over violation of the rules of using gas mains. A team led by the head of the local criminal investigations division Vadim Kogut was set up to investigate the explosion on the Ananiev-Tiraspol-Ismail pipeline, Transnistria’s prosecutor Anatolii Guretzki told Info-Prim-Neo’s correspondent in Tiraspol. The explosion occurred on Wednesday morning between Copanca and Chitcani villages of Causeni district. “The place of the accident was examined by a large number of specialists. They took samples of soil, metal, pieces of pipe and interrogated the witnesses,” Anatolii Guretzki said. The infringement of the rules of using gas pipelines is the main version examined, the prosecutor said. Guretzki added that if complications related to the investigation appear, they would invite specialists from Russia. The Ananiev-Tiraspol-Ismail pipeline transports Russian gas to the Balkans. The gas pipeline is 22 years old and has a working life of 40 years. The explosion was heard and seen by residents of Tiraspol and Bender towns. It created a pit of about 100 square meters. No casualties were reported. As a result of the accident, the gas supplies to Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece and Macedonia were halved. The president of Moldova Gaz Aleksandr Gusev told a news conference in Chisinau on Wednesday that the pipe will be fixed within 3 days.