According to statistics over the past few years, the number of traffic accidents, although decreasing, remains at a fairly high level. The main ones are traffic violations and drinking alcohol.

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In some situations, it is necessary to find out the guilt of one or another participant in the movement through the courts, as well as to recover compensation for the damage received, which has led to many examples decisions taken which is what this article is about.

Examples

So, let's consider what decisions were made by the court in disputable situations on the roadway.

Mutual fault in an accident

Mutual guilt is established law enforcement if both participants in the collision violated any traffic rules to one degree or another that caused the accident.

Mutual guilt can be:

equivalent	50 to 50%
unequal	e.g. 25% to 75%

In the first case, no participant in the collision has the right to receive insurance compensation, that is, the repair of the damaged car is carried out by each participant in the accident independently.

In the second situation, the driver who is less guilty of the collision has the opportunity to receive insurance compensation in a reduced amount (in proportion to the degree of guilt).

It is for this reason that most often drivers who are charged with mutual guilt turn to the judiciary.

In early 2019, a similar case was considered by the Leninsky District Court of St. Petersburg.

The collision between cars A and B occurred on March 12, 2019. The crew of the traffic police was called to the scene of the accident to document the incident.

Traffic police officer Ivanov A.A. issued the following resolutions:

• about a violation by the driver of car A of the speed limit ();
• about violation by the driver of the vehicle B of the rules for crossing intersections ().

Mutual fault was established in the incident. However, the driver of car A counts. What is less guilty of a collision, since through the fault of the second participant in the accident, it was difficult to travel through the intersection.

The statement of claim with copies of documents drawn up by traffic police officers was filed with the court.

During the consideration of the case, conducting examinations and determining the capabilities of both parties, it was revealed that the driver of car A, equally as the driver of car B, had the opportunity to prevent a collision.

Thus, the court left the claim without satisfaction, that is, the fault was recognized for both drivers equally.

Recovery of moral and material damage

If the driver of the vehicle is found guilty, the following may be recovered:

• material damage;
• moral injury.

Material damage, that is, damage caused to the property of the injured party, is recovered from the culprit on the basis of.

If the driver responsible for the collision has a valid one, then damages will be compensated by the insurance company with which the corresponding insurance contract has been concluded.

If the policy is not valid (for example, expired) or is missing, then the damage, based on a court decision, is recovered directly from the person responsible for the accident.

In addition, the party guilty of a road accident, on the basis of the Civil Code (), as the owner of a source of increased danger (car), is obliged to pay moral damages to the injured party.

In October 2019, the case for the recovery of material and moral damages was considered by the district court in the city of Kirov.

The collision between vehicles occurred at a regulated intersection. The cause of the accident was ignoring a traffic light signal by one of the drivers. During the investigation, it turned out that there was no autocitizen.

After receiving all the documents, the victim applied to the court to recover the compensation necessary for car repairs in the amount of 123 600 rubles and non-pecuniary damage in the amount 100 000 rubles.

The basis for compensation for non-pecuniary damage was a medical report, which stated that the severe stress caused by the accident led to a disruption in the functioning of the nervous system.

The court, having considered the submitted documents, ruled:

Contactless incident

A non-contact accident is a situation where a collision with a car, pedestrian or other property belonging to a third party occurred as a result of the actions of a driver who interfered with the person responsible for the accident.

For example, the situation might be as follows:

• the driver of car 1 turns right from the left lane, which interferes with car 2;
• to avoid a collision, the driver of car 2 turns sharply to the right and collides with a fence, a pedestrian, a kiosk, and so on.

Such an accident is issued exclusively by traffic police officers. The documents must indicate that the cause of the collision was the illegal actions of the driver 1 ().

It is almost impossible to receive compensation from the insurance company in this situation, therefore, in most cases, the injured party goes to court.

In order to conduct a correct investigation and establish guilt, it is necessary to provide the court with:

• documents issued by law enforcement agencies;
• testimony of witnesses;
• recordings from video recorders or video cameras.

As practice shows, the court quite often recognizes the guilt of the driver who created the obstacle and exacts compensation for the damage received in full.

For example, in January 2019, a similar incident was considered in Volgograd. The driver of car A, moving at the intersection on the main road, avoided a collision with car B, which ignored the “Give way” sign and did not let vehicle A pass.

To avoid a collision, the driver of vehicle A decided to switch to the second lane, but without calculating the distance and speed, he collided with car C.

The traffic police officers who arrived at the scene established that the driver of car B was the culprit of the collision. However, the court, taking into account the recording from the video recorder installed on car C, decided that the driver of car A was guilty and compensation was paid to the owners of both affected cars.

Fatal

In April 2019, an accident occurred at an equivalent intersection in the city of Sochi, as a result of which a passenger in one of the cars involved in the collision died.

When considering the circumstances of the incident, the fault of the driver of car A was established, which significantly exceeded the speed limit on this section of the road.

According to the CMTPL insurance policy, the son of the deceased received an insurance payment in the amount of 500 000 rubles. However, a week after the death of his father, he was admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of a severe nervous breakdown.

Medical assistance was provided in full. To obtain compensation from the culprit, the son of the deceased went to court, providing all the documents.

Court sentenced:

With animals

Often, accidents on suburban sections of the route occur due to collisions with animals.

This case is not insurance under OSAGO policies, that is, it will not be possible to receive funds for car repairs from the insurance company.

To do this, you need to sue the perpetrator in court. A similar incident recently occurred in Kostroma.

The accident between cars occurred due to the fault of driver A, who violated the rules for crossing intersections. In the course of clarifying the circumstances of the incident, it was discovered at the time of the collision that the driver responsible for the accident was drunk, which allows the insurance organization to exercise the right to subrogation.

The injured party was paid compensation in the amount of 320,000 rubles, which is proved by the documents and the testimony of the recipient.

Court sentenced:

• recover the funds spent by the insurance company in full;
• receive from the perpetrator of the accident an amount in the amount of 4 850 rubles, which was spent by the insurance company on the case of a traffic accident;
• deprive the driver of the rights for a period of 1 year 6 months;
• collect a fine in favor of the state in the amount of 30 000 rubles(according to Article 12.8 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).

Due to road services

If the road accident was caused by poor road surface, lack of warning signs about repair work, and so on, then you can recover funds for car repairs from the road service that maintains (repairs) this section of the carriageway.

The same was considered in Yaroslavl. The driver of the car got into a pit, which exceeded the established norms in overall dimensions.

As a result, the following damage was received:

• broken wheel;
• damaged front bumper;
• leaking stabilizer bar.

The amount for repairs, determined by the result of an independent examination, amounted to 54 000 rubles.

The owner of the car filed an application with the court, which, having considered the case, decided to recover the entire amount of damage from the road service, which did not repair the road in time and did not install fences in the dangerous area.

Cargo damage

As a result of an accident, damage can be caused not only vehicles and people) to drivers, passengers, pedestrians, third parties), but also to the transported cargo.

If the cargo is damaged, you can also count on receiving compensation from the person responsible for the accident, since the OSAGO insurance policy does not cover such expenses.

In October 2019, car A was damaged in an accident in Saratov, which was used by an online store to deliver orders. According to the traffic police, the driver of the car, B.

Since both participants in the accident had valid auto citizens, the repair of car A was carried out at the expense of the insurance company.

However, the owner of the online store went to court with a claim to recover from the guilty party the amount in 278 000 rubles for damage to goods.

The court granted the claim of the injured party.

Lost earnings

In addition to moral and material damage, in some situations, it is possible to recover the amount of lost earnings from the culprit of the accident.

For example, after an accident that occurred in Ulyanovsk, the driver of the affected car had to undergo treatment in a hospital for 3 months. In addition, the victim needed a course of rehabilitation in a sanatorium.

Having applied to the court after full recovery, the victim managed to recover from the perpetrator of the incident:

The car was restored at the expense of the insurance company.

On the move

A fairly large number of accidents occur annually at a railway crossing.

Recently, a similar incident occurred in Sverdlovsk region. The driver of the truck, ignoring the prohibitory signal of the traffic light and the closing barrier, collided with the locomotive, which was performing maneuvering work on the haul.

To recover damages, the owner of the locomotive went to court, which fully recognized the driver's guilt and ordered him to pay for the repair of damaged property.

Because of the ice

Often accidents on the roadway occur at night, for example, accidents with the headlights off and under the condition of ice. Who is to blame for the situation, if there is ice on the road and from whom it is necessary to recover damages.

The jurisprudence in these cases is inconsistent. For example, the driver of the car that caused the accident in Kursk violated the speed limit, which led to a collision with another car.

The perpetrator of the accident filed a lawsuit against the road service, which did not process the road. However, the court ruled that there was no fault of the road builders, since the driver had incorrectly chosen the speed limit in icy conditions.

In addition, a warning sign was installed on the road section.

Due to pedestrian

Quite often, pedestrians who cross the road in the wrong place or ignore traffic lights become the culprits of an accident.

In this situation, compensation for harm can be paid under CASCO or OSAGO policies. However, the funds received may not be enough.

In the case of CASCO, it is possible to recover a deductible from the person responsible for the accident. A similar case was considered in March in one of the district courts of Moscow.

The car hit a pedestrian crossing the roadway in the wrong place, on the basis of which the guilt of the pedestrian was established.

The repair of the damaged car was carried out under CASCO, however, the insurance contract was concluded with a deductible in the amount of 30 000 rubles. It was this amount that was recovered by the court from the pedestrian.

If compensation is received, the driver of the vehicle does not have any problems, but the insurance company has the opportunity to cover the damage at the expense of the pedestrian found guilty of the collision.

To do this, the auto insurer needs to go to court, which was done in November 2019 in Krasnodar.

The traffic police officers who issued a collision with a pedestrian established the guilt of the latter, as he crossed the road at a red traffic light.

As a result of the accident, the car sustained damage, which required repair 34 000 rubles.

The insurance company restored the car at its own expense, but then went to court to recover damages from the pedestrian, who satisfied the claims in full.

RADIO SPEECH BY THE DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF THE COUNCIL OF PEOPLE'S COMMISSIONERS OF THE UNION OF THE SSR AND THE PEOPLE'S COMMISSAR FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS TOV. V. M. MOLOTOVA

CITIZENS AND CITIZENS OF THE SOVIET UNION!

The Soviet government and its head comrade. Stalin instructed me to make the following statement:

Today, at 4 o'clock in the morning, without presenting any claims against the Soviet Union, without declaring war, German troops attacked our country, attacked our borders in many places and bombed our cities - Zhitomir, Kyiv - from their aircraft. , Sevastopol, Kaunas and some others, more than two hundred people were killed and wounded. Enemy aircraft raids and artillery shelling were also carried out from Romanian and Finnish territory.

This unheard-of attack on our country is treachery unparalleled in the history of civilized peoples. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that a non-aggression pact was concluded between the USSR and Germany and the Soviet government fulfilled all the conditions of this pact in all good faith. The attack on our country was carried out despite the fact that during the entire period of the validity of this treaty the German government could never make a single claim against the USSR regarding the implementation of the treaty. The entire responsibility for this predatory attack on the Soviet Union falls entirely on the German fascist rulers.

Already after the attack, the German ambassador in Moscow, Schulenburg, at 5:30 in the morning made me, as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, a statement on behalf of his government that the German government had decided to go to war against the USSR in connection with the concentration of Red Army units near the eastern German border.

In response to this, on behalf of the Soviet government, I stated that until the last minute the German government did not present any claims against the Soviet government, that Germany had attacked the USSR, despite the peace-loving position Soviet Union, and that thereby fascist Germany is the attacking side.

On instructions from the government of the Soviet Union, I must also state that at no point did our troops and our aviation allow the border to be violated, and therefore the statement made by the Romanian radio this morning that allegedly Soviet aircraft fired at Romanian airfields is a complete lie and provocation. Hitler's entire declaration today is just as much a lie and a provocation, trying to concoct, retroactively, accusatory material about non-compliance by the Soviet Union with the Soviet-German pact.

Now that the attack on the Soviet Union has already taken place, the Soviet government has given our troops an order to repulse the piratical attack and drive the German troops out of the territory of our homeland. This war was imposed on us not by the German people, not by the German workers, peasants and intelligentsia, whose sufferings we understand very well, but by a clique of bloodthirsty fascist rulers of Germany who enslaved the French, Czechs, Poles, Serbs, Norway, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Greece and other peoples .

The Government of the Soviet Union expresses its unshakable confidence that our valiant army and navy and the brave falcons of Soviet aviation will honorably fulfill their duty to their homeland, to Soviet people, and deal a crushing blow to the aggressor.

This is not the first time our people have had to deal with an attacking arrogant enemy. At one time, our people responded to Napoleon's campaign in Russia with a Patriotic War, and Napoleon was defeated and came to his own collapse. The same will happen to the arrogant Hitler, who has announced a new campaign against our country. The Red Army and all our people will again wage a victorious patriotic war for the motherland, for honor, for freedom.

The Government of the Soviet Union expresses its firm conviction that the entire population of our country, all workers, peasants and intelligentsia, men and women, will treat their duties and their work with due conscience. All our people must now be united and united as never before. Each of us must demand from ourselves and from others discipline, organization, selflessness, worthy of a true Soviet patriot, in order to provide for all the needs of the Red Army, fleet and aviation, in order to ensure victory over the enemy.

The government calls on you, citizens of the Soviet Union, to rally your ranks still more closely around our glorious Bolshevik Party, around our Soviet government, around our great leader Comrade. Stalin.

Our cause is right. The enemy will be defeated. Victory will be ours.

On March 13, 1961, the Kurenevskaya tragedy occurred - a dam break in Kyiv, as a result of which about 1,500 people died. Scientific and technological progress makes life easier for a person, but also leads to man-made accidents. We will talk about the five most severe disasters in the history of the USSR.

The Kurenevskaya tragedy occurred in Kyiv on March 13, 1961. On December 2, 1952, a decision was made to create a landfill from construction waste in the notorious place of Babi Yar. This place was blocked by a dam, which protected the Kurenevsky district from the merged waste from the brick factories. On March 13, the dam broke, and a mud wave 14 meters high rushed down Teligi Street. The stream had great strength and washed away everything in its path: cars, trams, buildings.

Although the flood lasted only an hour and a half, during this time a wave of waste managed to claim the lives of hundreds of people and cause catastrophic damage to the entire city. The exact number of victims could not be established, but this figure is close to 1.5 thousand people. In addition, about 90 buildings were destroyed, about 60 of which were residential.

The news of the disaster reached the population of the country only on March 16, and on the day of the tragedy, the authorities decided not to advertise what had happened. For this, international and long-distance communications were disabled throughout Kyiv. Later, the expert commission issued a decision on the causes of this accident, they called "mistakes in the design of hydraulic dumps and the dam."

RADIATION ACCIDENT AT THE "KRASNOE SORMOVO" PLANT

The radiation accident at the Krasnoye Sormovo plant, which was located in Nizhny Novgorod, occurred on January 18, 1970. The tragedy occurred during the construction of the K-320 nuclear submarine, which was part of the Skat project. When the boat was on the slipway, the reactor suddenly turned on, which worked for 15 seconds at its maximum speed. As a result, radiation contamination of the entire machine assembly shop occurred.

At the time of operation of the reactor, there were about 1,000 people working at the plant in the room. Unaware of the infection, many went home that day without the necessary medical care and deactivation treatment. Three of the six victims taken to a hospital in Moscow died of radiation sickness. It was decided not to make this incident public, and all those who survived were taken non-disclosure subscriptions for 25 years. And only the next day after the accident, the workers began to process. The liquidation of the consequences of the accident continued until April 24, 1970, more than a thousand workers of the plant were involved in these works.

THE CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT

The Chernobyl disaster occurred on April 26, 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. The reactor was completely destroyed in the explosion, and a huge amount of radioactive material was released into the environment. The accident was the largest in the history of nuclear energy. Main damaging factor The explosion was radioactive. In addition to the territories located in close proximity to the explosion (30 km), the territory of Europe was affected. This was due to the fact that the cloud formed from the explosion carried radioactive materials many kilometers away from the source. The fallout of iodine and cesium radionuclides was recorded on the territory of modern Belarus, Ukraine and the Russian Federation.

During the first three months after the accident, 31 people died, while over the next 15 years, another 60 to 80 people died from the consequences of the accident. More than 115 thousand people were evacuated from the 30-kilometer affected area. More than 600,000 servicemen and volunteers took part in the liquidation of the accident. The course of the investigation was constantly changing. The exact cause of the accident has not yet been determined.

KYSHTYM ACCIDENT

The Kyshtym accident was the first man-made disaster in the USSR, it happened on September 29, 1957. It happened at the Mayak plant, which was located in the closed military city of Chelyabinsk-40. The accident was named after the closest city of Kyshtym.

The reason was an explosion that occurred in a special tank for radioactive waste. This container was a smooth cylinder, which was made of stainless steel. The design of the vessel seemed to be reliable, and no one expected that the cooling system would fail.

An explosion occurred, as a result of which about 20 million curies of radioactive substances were released into the atmosphere. About 90 percent of the radiation fell on the territory of the Mayak chemical plant itself. Fortunately, Chelyabinsk-40 was not damaged. During the liquidation of the accident, 23 villages were resettled, and the houses themselves and domestic animals were destroyed.

No one died as a result of the explosion. However, the employees who carried out the elimination of the infection received a significant dose of radiation. About a thousand people took part in the operation. Now this zone is called the East Ural radioactive trace and any economic activity prohibited in this area.

DISASTER AT THE PLESETSK COSMODROME

On March 18, 1980, an explosion occurred while preparing for the launch of the Vostok 2-M launch vehicle. The incident took place at the Plesetsk cosmodrome. This accident led to a large number of human casualties: only in the immediate vicinity of the rocket at the time of the explosion there were 141 people. 44 people died in the fire, the rest received burns of varying severity and were taken to the hospital, later four of them died.

The catastrophe was caused by the fact that hydrogen peroxide was used as catalytic materials in the manufacture of filters. Only thanks to the courage of the participants in this accident, many people were able to get out of the fire. The liquidation of the disaster lasted for three days.

In the future, scientists abandoned the use of hydrogen peroxide as a catalyst, which made it possible to avoid such incidents.

Humanity will never forget about the accident on the Deepwater Horizon oil platform. The explosion and fire happened on April 20, 2010, 80 kilometers from the coast of Louisiana, at the Macondo field. The oil spill was the largest in US history and effectively ruined the Gulf of Mexico. We remembered the largest man-made and environmental disasters in the world, some of which are almost worse than the Deepwater Horizon tragedy.

Could the accident have been avoided? Technogenic disasters often occur as a result of natural disasters, but also because of worn-out equipment, greed, negligence, inattention ... The memory of them serves as an important lesson for humanity, because natural disasters can harm people, but not the planet, but technogenic threaten absolutely the whole world around.

15. Explosion at a fertilizer plant in the city of West - 15 victims

On April 17, 2013, an explosion occurred at a fertilizer plant in West Texas. The explosion occurred at 19:50 local time and it completely destroyed the plant, which belonged to the local company Adair Grain Inc. The explosion destroyed a school and a nursing home located next to the plant. About 75 buildings in the city of West were seriously damaged. The explosion killed 15 people, about 200 people were injured. Initially, there was a fire at the plant, and the explosion happened at the moment when firefighters were trying to cope with the fire. At least 11 firefighters have died.

According to eyewitnesses, the explosion was so strong that it could be heard about 70 km from the plant, and the US Geological Survey recorded ground vibrations of magnitude 2.1. "It was like an atomic bomb explosion," eyewitnesses said. Residents in a number of areas near the West were evacuated due to the leakage of ammonia used in the manufacture of fertilizers, the authorities warned everyone about the leakage of toxic substances. A no-fly zone was introduced over West at an altitude of up to 1 km. The city looked like a war zone...

In May 2013, a criminal case was opened on the fact of the explosion. The investigation revealed that the company had been storing the chemicals that caused the explosion in violation of safety requirements. The US Chemical Safety Committee found that the company failed to take the necessary measures to prevent fire and explosion. In addition, at that time there were no regulations that would prohibit the storage of ammonium nitrate near populated areas.

14. Flooding of Boston with molasses - 21 victims

The molasses flood in Boston happened on January 15, 1919, after a giant molasses reservoir exploded in Boston's North End, sending a wave of sugary liquid through the streets of the city at great speed. 21 people died, about 150 were hospitalized. The disaster occurred at the Purity Distilling Company distillery during Prohibition (fermented molasses was widely used to produce ethanol at the time). On the eve of the introduction of a complete ban, the owners tried to have time to make as much rum as possible ...

Apparently, due to metal fatigue in an overflowing tank with 8700 m³ of molasses, sheets of metal connected by rivets dispersed. The ground trembled, and a wave of molasses up to 2 meters high poured into the streets. The pressure of the wave was so great that it moved the freight train off the tracks. Nearby buildings were flooded to a meter high, some collapsed. People, horses, dogs got stuck in a sticky wave and died from suffocation.

A Red Cross mobile hospital was deployed in the disaster zone, a US Navy unit entered the city - the rescue operation lasted a week. The molasses was removed with sand, which absorbed the viscous mass. Although the factory owners blamed the anarchists for the explosion, the townspeople secured payments totaling $600,000 (today about $8.5 million) from them. According to Bostonians, even now, on hot days, a sugary smell of caramel emanates from old houses ...

13. Explosion at the Phillips chemical plant in 1989 - 23 victims

The explosion at the Phillips Petroleum Company chemical plant occurred on October 23, 1989, in Pasadena, Texas. Due to the oversight of the employees, a large leak of combustible gas occurred, and there was a powerful explosion, equivalent to two and a half tons of dynamite. A tank of 20,000 gallons of isobutane gas exploded and the chain reaction caused 4 more explosions.
During scheduled maintenance, the air ducts on the valves were accidentally closed. Thus, the control room displayed that the valve was open, while it was as if it were closed. This led to the formation of a cloud of steam, which exploded from the slightest spark. The initial explosion was recorded as 3.5 on the Richter scale and fragments of the explosion were found within a radius of 6 miles from the explosion.

Many of the fire hydrants failed, and the water pressure in the remaining hydrants dropped dramatically. It took firefighters more than ten hours to bring the situation under control and completely extinguish the flames. 23 people died and 314 were injured.

12. Fire at the pyrotechnic factory in Enschede in 2000 - 23 victims

On May 13, 2000, as a result of a fire at the pyrotechnic factory S.F. Fireworks in the Dutch city of Enschede (Enshede) was an explosion, killing 23 people, including four firefighters. The fire started in the central building and spread to two full containers of fireworks illegally stored outside the building. Several subsequent explosions occurred with the largest explosion felt as far away as 19 miles.

During the fire, a significant part of the Rombek district burned down and was destroyed - 15 streets were burned, 1,500 houses were damaged, and 400 houses were destroyed. In addition to 23 deaths, 947 people were injured and 1,250 people were left homeless. Fire crews arrived from Germany to help fight the fire.

When S.F. Fireworks built a pyrotechnic factory in 1977, it was located far from the city. As the city grew, new low-cost housing surrounded the warehouses, causing horrendous destruction, injury, and death. Most of the locals had no idea that they lived in such close proximity to the fireworks warehouse.

11. Explosion at a chemical plant in Flixboro - 64 victims

An explosion occurred in Flixborough, England on June 1, 1974, killing 28 people. The accident happened at the Nipro plant, which was engaged in the production of ammonium. The disaster caused a whopping £36 million in property damage. British industry has never known such a catastrophe. The chemical plant in Flixboro has practically ceased to exist.
A chemical plant near the village of Flixboro specialized in the production of caprolactam, the starting product for synthetic fibers.

The accident happened like this: the bypass pipeline connecting reactors 4 and 6 broke, and steam began to escape from the outlets. A cloud of cyclohexane vapors was formed, containing several tens of tons of the substance. The source of ignition of the cloud was probably the torch of the hydrogen plant. Due to an accident at the plant, an explosive mass of heated vapors was thrown into the air, for which the slightest spark was enough to ignite. 45 minutes after the accident, when the mushroom cloud reached the hydrogen plant, there was a powerful explosion. The explosion in its destructive power was equivalent to the explosion of 45 tons of TNT, detonated at a height of 45 m.

About 2,000 buildings outside the enterprise were damaged. In the village of Amcotts, across the River Trent, 73 out of 77 houses were badly damaged. In Flixboro, located at a distance of 1200 m from the center of the explosion, 72 out of 79 houses were destroyed. 64 people died from the explosion and subsequent fire, 75 people at the enterprise and outside were injured of varying severity.

Under pressure from the owners of the Nipro company, plant engineers often deviated from the established technological regulations and ignored safety requirements. The sad experience of this disaster showed that it is necessary for chemical plants to have a high-speed automatic system fire extinguishing system, which allows to eliminate the combustion of solid chemicals no later than 3 seconds.

10 Hot Steel Spill - 35 Victims

On April 18, 2007, 32 people died and 6 were injured when a ladle containing molten steel fell at the Qinghe Special Steel Corporation plant in China. Thirty tons of liquid steel heated to 1500 degrees Celsius fell from the overhead conveyor. Liquid steel broke through the doors and windows into the adjacent room, where the shift workers were.

Perhaps the most horrifying fact that the study of this catastrophe uncovered is that it could have been prevented. The immediate cause of the accident was the misuse of substandard equipment. The investigation concluded that there were a number of safety deficiencies and breaches that contributed to the accident.

When emergency services reached the crash site, they were stopped by the heat of the molten steel and were unable to reach the victims for a long time. After the steel began to cool, they found 32 victims. Surprisingly, 6 people miraculously survived this accident, and with severe burns were taken to the hospital.

9. The collapse of the train with oil in Lac-Megantic - 47 victims

The explosion of the train with oil occurred on the evening of July 6, 2013 in the town of Lac-Megantic in Quebec, Canada. A train owned by The Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway, carrying 74 tanks of crude oil, has derailed. As a result, several tanks caught fire and exploded. It is known about 42 dead, 5 more people are missing. As a result of the fire that engulfed the city, approximately half of the buildings in the city center were destroyed.

In October 2012, epoxy materials were used on the GE C30-7 #5017 diesel locomotive during engine repair in order to complete the repair as soon as possible. In subsequent operation, these materials collapsed, the locomotive began to smoke heavily. Leaking fuels and lubricants accumulated in the turbocharger housing, which led to a fire on the night of the crash.

The train driver was Tom Harding. At 23:00 the train stopped at Nantes station, on the main track. Tom contacted the dispatcher and reported problems with the diesel, strong black exhaust; the solution of the problem with the diesel locomotive was postponed until the morning, and the driver left to spend the night in a hotel. The train with the diesel locomotive running and dangerous goods was left overnight at an unattended station. At 23:50, the 911 service received a message about a fire on the lead diesel locomotive. The compressor was not working in it, and the pressure in the brake line was decreasing. At 00:56, the pressure dropped to such a level that the hand brakes could not hold the cars and the uncontrolled train went down the slope towards Lac Megantic. At 00:14, the train derailed at a speed of 105 km/h and ended up in the city center. Cars derailed, explosions followed, and burning oil spilled along the railroad.
People in a nearby cafe, feeling the tremors of the earth, decided that an earthquake had begun and hid under the tables, as a result, they did not have time to escape from the fire ... This railway accident became one of the deadliest in Canada.

8. The accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya HPP - at least 75 victims

The accident at the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power station is an industrial man-made disaster that occurred on August 17, 2009 - a "rainy day" for the Russian hydropower industry. As a result of the accident, 75 people died, serious damage was caused to the equipment and premises of the station, and electricity production was suspended. The consequences of the accident affected the ecological situation in the water area adjacent to the HPP, the social and economic spheres of the region.

At the time of the accident, the HPP was carrying a load of 4100 MW, out of 10 hydroelectric units, 9 were in operation. At 8:13 local time on August 17, hydroelectric unit No. 2 was destroyed, with significant volumes of water flowing through the shaft of the hydroelectric unit under high pressure. The power plant personnel, who were in the engine room, heard a loud bang and saw the release of a powerful column of water.
Streams of water quickly flooded the engine room and the rooms below it. All hydroelectric power plants were flooded, while working GAs experienced short circuits (their flashes are clearly visible on the amateur video of the disaster), which put them out of action.

The non-obviousness of the causes of the accident (according to the Minister of Energy of Russia Shmatko, “this is the largest and most incomprehensible hydropower accident that has ever been in the world”) caused a number of versions that were not confirmed (from terrorism to a water hammer). The most probable cause of the accident is the fatigue failure of the studs that occurred during the operation of the hydraulic unit No. 2 with a temporary impeller and an unacceptable level of vibration in 1981-83.

7. Explosion on the "Piper Alpha" - 167 victims

On July 6, 1988, the Piper Alpha oil platform in the North Sea was destroyed by an explosion. The Piper Alpha platform, installed in 1976, was the largest structure on the Piper site, owned by the Scottish company Occidental Petroleum. The platform was located 200 km northeast of Aberdeen and served as the site's oil production control center. The platform included a heliport and accommodation for 200 oilmen working in shifts. On July 6, an unexpected explosion occurred on the Piper Alpha. The fire that engulfed the platform did not even give the staff the opportunity to send an SOS signal.

As a result of a gas leak and subsequent explosion, 167 people out of 226 who were on the platform at that moment died, only 59 survived. It took 3 weeks to extinguish the fire, with strong winds (80 mph) and 70 foot waves. The final cause of the explosion could not be established. According to the most popular version, there was a gas leak on the platform, as a result of which a small spark was enough to start a fire. The accident on the Piper Alpha platform led to serious criticism and subsequent revision of the safety standards for oil production in the North Sea.

6. Fire in Tianjin Binhai - 170 victims

On the night of August 12, 2015, two explosions broke out at a container storage area in the port of Tianjin. At 22:50 local time, reports of a fire began to arrive at the warehouses of the Zhuihai company, which transports hazardous chemicals, located in the port of Tianjin. As investigators later found out, it was caused by spontaneous combustion of nitrocellulose dried and heated in the summer sun. Within 30 seconds of the first explosion, a second one occurred - a container of ammonium nitrate. The local seismological service estimated the power of the first explosion at 3 tons of TNT equivalent, the second at 21 tons. Firefighters arrived at the scene for a long time could not stop the spread of fire. The fires raged for several days and there were 8 more explosions. The explosions created a huge crater.

The explosions resulted in the death of 173 people, 797 injured, and 8 people are missing. . Thousands of Toyota, Renault, Volkswagen, Kia and Hyundai vehicles were damaged. 7,533 containers, 12,428 vehicles and 304 buildings were destroyed or damaged. In addition to death and destruction, damage totaled $9 billion. Three apartment buildings were found to have been built within a one-kilometer radius of the chemical warehouse, which is prohibited by Chinese law. Authorities have charged 11 officials from the city of Tianjin in connection with the bombing. They are accused of negligence and abuse of power.

5. Val di Stave, dam burst - 268 victims

In northern Italy, over the village of Stave, the Val di Stave dam collapsed on July 19, 1985. The accident destroyed 8 bridges, 63 buildings, 268 people died. After the crash, an investigation determined that there had been poor maintenance and a low operational safety margin.

In the upper of the two dams, rainfall made the drainage pipe less efficient and clogged. Water continued to flow into the reservoir and the pressure in the damaged pipe increased, which also caused pressure on the coastal rock. The water began to seep into the soil, liquefy into mud, and weaken the banks until, finally, erosion occurred. In just 30 seconds, water and mud flows from the upper dam broke through and poured into the lower dam.

4. The collapse of the waste heap in Nambii - 300 victims

By the 1990s, Nambiya, a mining town in southeast Ecuador, had a reputation for being an "aggressive eco-environment". The local mountains were pitted with miners, riddled with holes from mining, the air is humid and filled with chemicals, toxic gases from the mine and a huge waste heap.

On May 9, 1993, much of the coal slag mountain at the end of the valley collapsed, killing about 300 people in a landslide. 10,000 people lived in the village on an area of ​​about 1 square mile. Most of the city's houses were built right at the entrance to the mine tunnel. Experts have long warned that the mountain has become almost hollow. They said that further coal mining would lead to landslides, and after several days of heavy rains, the soil softened, and the worst predictions came true.

3. Texas explosion - 581 victims

A man-made disaster happened on April 16, 1947 in the port of Texas City, USA. A fire aboard the French ship Grandcamp detonated about 2,100 tons of ammonium nitrate (ammonium nitrate), which led to a chain reaction of fires and explosions on nearby ships and oil storage facilities.

The tragedy killed at least 581 people (including all but one Texas City Fire Department), over 5,000 people were injured, and 1,784 were hospitalized. The port and a significant part of the city were completely destroyed, many enterprises were razed to the ground or burned down. More than 1,100 vehicles were damaged and 362 freight cars were wrecked - property damage was estimated at $100 million. These events sparked the first class action lawsuit against the US government.

The Court found the Federal Government guilty of criminal negligence committed by government agencies and their representatives involved in the production, packaging and labeling of ammonium nitrate, aggravated by gross errors in its transportation, storage, loading and fire fighting measures. 1,394 compensations were paid out, totaling about $17 million.

2. Bhopal disaster - up to 160,000 victims

This is one of the worst man-made disasters in the Indian city of Bhopal. As a result of an accident at a chemical plant owned by the American chemical company Union Carbide, and producing pesticides, the poisonous substance methyl isocyanate was released. It was stored at the factory in three tanks partially dug into the ground, each of which could hold about 60,000 liters of liquid.
The cause of the tragedy was an emergency release of methyl isocyanate vapor, which heated above the boiling point in the factory tank, which led to an increase in pressure and a rupture of the emergency valve. As a result, on December 3, 1984, about 42 tons of toxic fumes were released into the atmosphere. A cloud of methyl isocyanate covered the nearby slums and the railway station, located 2 km away.

The Bhopal disaster is the largest in terms of the number of victims in modern history, resulting in the immediate death of at least 18 thousand people, of which 3 thousand died on the day of the accident, and 15 thousand in subsequent years. According to other data, total the victims are estimated at 150-600 thousand people. A large number of victims is explained by the high population density, untimely informing residents about the accident, lack of medical staff, as well as adverse weather conditions - a cloud of heavy vapors was carried by the wind.

Union Carbide, responsible for the tragedy, paid the victims $470 million in an out-of-court settlement in 1987 in exchange for a waiver of claims. In 2010, an Indian court found seven former Union Carbide Indian executives guilty of negligence resulting in loss of life. The convicts were sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of 100,000 rupees (approximately $2,100).

1. Tragedy at the Banqiao Dam - 171,000 dead

The designers of the dam cannot even be blamed for this catastrophe, it was designed for severe floods, but this one was completely unprecedented. In August 1975, a typhoon broke through the Banqiao Dam in western China, killing about 171,000 people. The dam was built in the 1950s to generate electricity and prevent floods. Engineers have developed it with a margin of safety for a thousand years.

But on those fateful days in early August 1975, Typhoon Nina immediately produced over 40 inches of rain, exceeding the area's annual rainfall total in just one day. After several days of even heavier rains, the dam gave way and was washed away on 8 August.

The break of the dam caused a wave 33 feet high, 7 miles wide, which traveled at a speed of 30 miles per hour. In total, more than 60 dams and additional reservoirs were destroyed due to the destruction of the Banqiao Dam. The flood destroyed 5,960,000 buildings, killed 26,000 people immediately and another 145,000 died later as a result of famine and epidemics due to natural disaster.

10.11.2014

In Russia, there are more than three thousand six hundred chemically hazardous facilities, and one hundred and forty-six cities with a population of more than one hundred thousand people are located in areas of increased chemical hazard.

Today's release of toxic substances in Moscow belongs to the category of the so-called. non-catastrophic incidents exceeding the norms for the content of any substance in the atmosphere. But humanity has experienced a huge number of man-made emergencies associated with chemicals. Here are 8 of the biggest...

1. Seveso, Italy

In 1976, an accident occurred at a chemical plant in the Italian city of Seveso, as a result of which an area of ​​more than 18 km2 was contaminated with dioxin. More than 1,000 people were injured, and mass deaths of animals were noted. The liquidation of the consequences of the accident lasted more than a year.

2. Flixborough, England

On June 1, 1974, an accident occurred at a chemical plant in the UK in the city of Flixborough at the Nipro plant, which was engaged in the production of ammonium. In terms of its power, the explosion was equal to the action of a 45-ton TNT charge if it had been blown up at a height of 45 meters from the ground. As a result of the incident, 55 people died and 75 were injured.

3. Suzhou, China

In China in September 1978, as a result of an accident at a chemical plant in the city of Suzhou, 28 tons of sodium cyanide got into the river. This number is enough to kill 48 million people, but the Zhongguo Qingnian Bao newspaper reported that the death toll was only 3,000.

4. Bhopal, India

One of the most significant global chemical disasters of the 20th century was the explosion at the Union Carbide plant, which occurred on December 2, 1984 in Bhopal (India) and led to the poisoning and death of 4035 people. More than 40 thousand people suffered. From a cloud of 43 tons of toxic gas of methyl isocyanate (the toxicity of methyl isocyanate exceeds the toxicity of phosgene by 2-3 times), which escaped from the territory of the plant, an area 5 km long and 2 km wide was contaminated.

5. Sandoz plant, Switzerland

On November 1, 1986, a fire broke out in a warehouse of a chemical factory in Switzerland. During the extinguishing of a fire, about 30 tons of agricultural pesticides spilled into the Rhine. Millions of fish died and drinking water was contaminated.

6. Yaroslavl, Russia

In 1988, during a railway accident in the city of Yaroslavl, there was a spill of heptyl, which belongs to the AHOV of the first toxicity class. About 3 thousand people were in the zone of possible defeat. About 2 thousand people and a large number of equipment took part in the liquidation of the consequences of the accident.

7. Jonave (USSR, Lithuania)

In 1989, a chemical accident occurred in Jonava (Lithuania). About 7 thousand tons of liquid ammonia spilled over the territory of the plant, forming a lake of poisonous liquid with a surface of about 10 thousand square meters. m. From the resulting fire, a warehouse with nitrophoska ignited, its thermal decomposition with the release of toxic gases. The depth of distribution of contaminated air reached 30 km, and only favorable meteorological conditions did not lead to the defeat of people.

8. Mexico

In August 1991, 32 liquid chlorine tanks derailed in Mexico during a railroad accident. About 300 tons of chlorine were released into the atmosphere. About 500 people were injured in the contaminated air distribution zone, of which 17 people died on the spot. More than a thousand people were evacuated from nearby settlements.

What to do in the event of a dangerous release of chemicals

All this poses a serious danger to people, given the high population density in cities. Therefore, even “after the end of the chemical alarm,” experts advise:

• not to eat fruits and herbs from the garden or any products offered for sale in the open air;
• do not eat eggs, as well as the meat of livestock and poultry, slaughtered after the announcement of the alarm in the infected area;
• do not drink both well water and tap water, since both the source and the water supply may be contaminated;
• avoid drinking milk obtained after an alarm;
• eat canned food or purchased before the disaster.

What to do in case of a chemical accident. Video EMERCOM of Russia

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