Employees of the KazTransGas company improperly inspected a residential building in Tbilisi’s Didi Digomi district that caused a deadly blast on January 16, killing four and leaving eight others injured, claims Georgian Energy Ombudsman Salome Vardiashvili whose office has completed an investigation into the case.
Unfortunately the suspicion was confirmed that the company’s employees improperly inspected the residential building. In the case of the first call, they stayed for 20 minutes at the building and found no source of a possible danger. During the second call they stayed just for 49 seconds. [This fact] generally excludes any kind of inquiry or inspection at the place, which gives me confirmation that the company’s [employees] have not made any effort to prevent [the accident]”, Vardiashvili stated today.
Employees of KazTransGas Tbilisi were called by residents of the building to inspect the area they smelled natural gas. The Ministry of Internal Affairs said that the individuals did not check the gas pipes properly and told the residents that the strong smell was from wall paints and not gas.
A residential building in Didi Digomi, Tbilisi, where natural gas blast claimed 4 lives on January 16. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
Vardiashvili noted that she could not find information in the inspection protocol about what kind of inspection was held at the residential building.
Two days after the explosion the Georgian police detained two employees of the KazTransGas company. The Ministry of Internal Affairs said that an investigation was in progress and that all those at fault for the fatality will be held accountable.
After the January 16 explosion Georgian government officials started to announce that regulations would become tougher in terms of the installation of gas distribution devices.
January 17 was a national day of mourning in Georgia in recognition of the victims of the tragic event.