Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Investigators of the Tomsk Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee charged a 43-year-old Tomsk resident with violating fire safety rules, which negligently resulted in the death of three people in a fire in the city of Asino, Tomsk region on 15 April, the man was detained; the victims were labor migrants from Uzbekistan, the ministry’s press service said on Monday. 

Earlier it was reported that a fire broke out in a two-story house on Krivaya Street, 7 in Asino. Firefighters found the bodies of three men while extinguishing the fire. Upon their death, the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under the article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Causing death by negligence to two or more persons."

“A 43-year-old worker of Stroydommontazh-M LLC was detained on suspicion of committing this crime. This commercial organization carries out work and provides construction and repair services with the involvement of hired workers, including labor migrants,” the report says.

It is specified that the man was also an individual entrepreneur and rented out premises, including in a burning house.

“In 2023, he provided the indicated house for living to a group of labor migrants from Uzbekistan who were employed at Stroydommontazh-M LLC. However, being the owner of the housing, he did not ensure compliance with fire safety requirements, which subsequently led to the death of three people as a result of a fire through negligence, ”the message adds.

The detainee was charged under the article “Violation of fire safety rules, resulting in the death of two or more persons through negligence” (the maximum sanction is imprisonment for up to seven years).

As explained to the agency in the press service of the department, the accused is a resident of Tomsk.

Earlier it was reported that in January 2020, a similar tragedy occurred at the Green Wood sawmill in the Asino village of Prichulymsky. Then, in a two-story building, 12 labor migrants from Uzbekistan died in a fire. The director general of Green Wood, Chinese citizen Sun Anni, was found guilty. She was sentenced to four years in a colony-settlement, but given her time in a pre-trial detention center, she was released in February 2022.