Energy Minister Virgil Popescu announces that he will send the Control Authority of the Ministry of Energy to carry out inspections at the Oltenia energy complex after the accident at the Jilţ Sud quarry that killed three people. He demands the resignation of the director of the mining branch, the head of the mining department and the manager of the Jilţ Sud quarry. “It seems normal to me that those who are responsible for this, for mining, lose their functions, so that’s normal, I’m not waiting for the report of the Control Authority, I want it to happen tomorrow,” he says. he.

Energy Minister Virgil Popescu, who was present Tuesday evening in Gorz County where he met with the authorities, announced that the ten miners who were injured in the Jilţ Sud mine accident and were hospitalized in three hospitals were in stable condition. , the News.ro agency reports. The minister’s first stop was the Jilţ Sud quarry, then he talked with the managers of the Oltenia Energy Complex.

Popescu expressed his condolences to the families of the three miners who died.

“I have already spoken with the head of the Ministry of Energy’s regulatory body, and tomorrow a three-man team will come to the Oltenia energy complex to assess the state of labor safety and check whether the plans are being followed. This is an administrative investigation that we want to conduct in parallel with the investigation conducted by the prosecutor’s office together with the ITM and the police,” he said.

“I appeal to those responsible for labor protection in all sectors of Romania to check absolutely all rules from tomorrow”

The minister demanded the resignation of the director of the mining branch, the head of the mining department and the manager of the Jiltz South quarry.

“Such tragedies should not be repeated and the perpetrators should take all measures so that such a tragedy does not happen again anywhere. I publicly call on those responsible for occupational health and safety in all industrial sectors in Romania to check, starting tomorrow, absolutely all the rules, compliance with occupational health and safety regulations, because what happened is truly a tragedy and it must not be repeated “, added Virgil Popescu.

According to his estimates, the administrative investigation “will not take much time”.

When asked if he was told what the quarry workers were being transported with, Popescu replied: “This is what I want, this is what I want to be written in black and white by the Control Body of the Minister of Energy, precisely in order to prevent all this . things in the future, because today’s tragedy, in addition to its seriousness, we must also learn from it.”

When asked what he expects from the regulatory body if it asks for the dismissal of the head of the mining branch, the head of the EMC and the head of the pit, he said: “It seems normal to me that those who are responsible for this, for mining, if they lose their functions , then that’s fine, I’m not waiting for the regulatory body’s report on it, I want it to happen tomorrow.”

“The car was not approved for the transportation of people, but for the transportation of goods”

The minister shied away from the details of negotiations with quarry workers in Gorzh.

“This car was not homologated, as I found out, for the carriage of people, it was homologated for the carriage of goods, and I realized that it could carry one plus two, in the front. As far as I understood, we were talking about 16, which in any case is much more than the possibility of transporting this car,” Minister Virgil Popescu emphasized in response to a question.

When asked why they didn’t invest in equipment for workers, and bonuses were given at the Oltenia energy complex, the minister answered that “those who gave bonuses will be responsible for the bonuses given illegally.”

He noted that he would like the situation regarding the conditions of transportation of workers to be resolved after the inspection by the supervisory body.

Virgil Popescu also reacted when he was told that the wife of one of the victims was pregnant: “I’m very sorry, believe me, and I’m trying to help as much as I can, and that’s why I’m trying to push everyone from behind to help the families and those who are in the hospital “.

According to Virgil Popescu, in 2017, the minister’s control body found losses of 680 million lei, and then the management of the complex was changed.

After the accident that happened on Tuesday in the Jilţ Sud quarry, three people died and ten others were taken to the hospital. The first checks of the police showed that the van, which fell on a level difference of about three meters, was transporting workers, as well as two metal tubes with acetylene. Due to the death of three persons aged 29, 38 and 48, respectively, and injuries to other workers, the police opened proceedings on the facts of involuntary manslaughter, intentional bodily harm and failure to comply with the requirements of the legislation on occupational safety and hygiene.

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