MOSCOW. Aug 10 (Interfax) - The technical director of the Piro-Ross company in the Moscow region has been detained in the case on the explosion, spokesperson for the Russian Investigative Committee's regional branch Olga Vrady said.
"Detectives have questioned the company's top managers. The technical director of Piro-Ross has been detained as a suspect," Vrady told reporters on Thursday.
She withheld the detainee's name.
An informed source told Interfax that the defendant is Sergei Chankayev, who served as the company's general director from 2006 through April 1, 2023, when Alexei Suvorov was appointed bankruptcy manager.
According to SPARK Interfax, Piro-Ross is undergoing a bankruptcy procedure. As of August 9, 2023, its transactions were suspended by the Federal Tax Service.
Over 60 people have sought medical assistance, nine are unaccounted for, and a woman has died in hospital, Vrady said.
According to Vrady, investigators are checking information about another three missing persons. In all, the search for 12 missing people continues.
"Investigators have searched the premises of the Piro-Ross company, a warehouse of which caught fire. Documents important for the investigative process, including job descriptions, have been seized," she said.
Thirty-four people have been questioned as witnesses, Vrady said. "Investigators will assess the legality of the presence of pyrotechnic devices and their component parts at the warehouse on the plant grounds," she said.
"Explosive, physical-chemical, ballistic and explosive technological examinations have been authorized to establish the causes of the fire, alongside 60 forensic medical examinations," Vrady said.
The criminal case on counts of a breach of industrial safety regulations for hazardous manufacturing facilities has been directed to the regional department of the Russian Investigative Committee for processing, she said.
"On the orders from the Investigative Committee chairman, the progress and results of the criminal investigation will be monitored by the Committee's central staff," Vrady said.
An explosion rocked a rented fireworks warehouse near the Zagorsk Optical-Mechanical Plant on Wednesday morning. An injured plant employee died in hospital.