Energy Ombudsman demands explanation from KazTransGas Tbilisi over explosion

The Energy Ombudsman of Georgia Salome Vardiashvili has begun studying the case of yesterday’s powerful explosion in a residential building in Tbilisi’s Didi Digomi district.  

The preliminary conclusion says that a natural gas leak occurred in one of the flats of a residential building, where family members and children were during the explosion.

The procedure of connecting the residential building to the natural gas network will be thoroughly studied”, announced the Energy Ombudsman. The Energy Ombudsman has demanded an explanation from KazTransGas Tbilisi.

The Energy Ombudsman's interest is also in why the technician could not find a point of leakage. It is likely that negligence or unprofessionalism of the employee is evident”, reads the statement.

The Energy Ombudsman talked about the regulation of the natural gas internal network and said that “the regulations do not fully respond to security challenges”.

The Public Defender of Georgia also released a statement today, offered condolences to the family members and relatives of the victims.  

The Public Defender hopes that the investigative agencies will investigate the causes of the explosion and devastating effects as soon as possible and identify the persons responsible for the accident.

”The Public Defender once again calls on the government to define a specific list of construction and facing materials that are prohibited to use; it is also necessary to improve the legislative guarantee for fire safety of facilities,” reads the statement released by the Public Defender.