‘We understood there was no chance our loved ones had survived’ The daughter of a buried Russian miner describes how a town lost eight men

On Monday, August 28, Yakutiya declared a day of mourning for the miners killed in a recent flooding accident at the “Mir” diamond mine, owned by the “Alrosa” company. The August 4 incident forced the evacuation of 143 people and trapped eight miners underground. On August 15, rescue workers ended their search for four of the miners, and Alrosa called off the effort entirely, 11 days later. To learn more about what has been happening in the city of Mirny, where the mine is located, Meduza spoke to Alina Misnik, the daughter of Valentin Misnik, a foreman who died in the accident.

Alina Misnik

Daughter of Valentin Misnik, a foreman who died in the “Mir” mine accident

On Saturday [August 26], they told us that the search was officially over and wouldn’t be continued any further. At the gathering that day, lawyers from Alrosa were there, and someone from Mirny’s city government. This was the first time any of us saw these people; nobody from the company’s management had ever come before. They told us that they’d ordered some heavy duty pumps from China to pump the water out of the shaft and restore the mine. Maybe it will be six months, maybe it will be in a year, but we hope they’ll find the bodies or the remains of our loved ones and turn them over to us.

Everything had been very slowly approaching the end of the search, so the announcement wasn’t news to anyone. It had been three weeks since the accident, and we already understood there was no chance our loved ones had survived.

On August 27, we decided to lay photos, candles, and flowers at the rock outside the mine shaft. Most of the people living in Mirny showed up by evening, and they also laid flowers in memory of those we’ve lost. Ordinary people were the ones who organized the vigil.

Today, a priest came to the quarry with a small choir and performed a service for the dead. We spoke to some Alrosa representatives about preserving the memory of our loved ones, maybe by erecting some kind of monument or plaque in their honor at the quarry. They’d already approved the idea, and they asked us for photos of our loved ones.

We met with the Alrosa lawyers and with insurance companies to talk about compensation. Part of the payments had already been made: Alrosa paid us a million rubles ($17,000), we got another million from the Yakutiya government, and another million from the Belgorod regional government.

There’s an ongoing investigation, and we met with representatives of the Investigative Committee and agreed that they would keep us informed. The deaths of our relatives should not go overlooked. Money is money, but the guilty parties must be punished, as well. But as long as the investigation is underway, it’s pointless to take any actions.

They’ve conducted an inspection of the subcontractor companies where our loved ones had worked, and we were informed that violations were discovered. We’ve written to the prosecutor’s office, and we’ll also deal with this in court.

Most of the psychologists and emergency workers, who were here with us the whole time, left town a few days ago. When you actually start to realize what’s happened, it doesn’t hit you quite as hard. We’re sticking together, and that helps. A lot of women have children waiting for them at home. If you can’t collect yourself emotionally, how are you going to be a parent?