An engineer has been detained in connection with the dam breach at the Gejukha Reservoir.
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An engineer for a commercial organization was detained in Dagestan. He was tasked with overseeing the safe operation of the Gedzhukh Reservoir dam.
As reported by the "Caucasian Knot," the Gedzhukh Dam collapsed in the Derbent District of Dagestan on April 6. More than 350 residents from the village of Mamedkala and surrounding villages were evacuated. The floodwaters washed several cars off the highway, killing at least four people. The total death toll from the flood in Dagestan today reached six.
The environmental prosecutor's office reported that the owner and organizations using the reservoir complex "failed to ensure the safe operation of the hydraulic structure." The Volga Interregional Environmental Prosecutor's Office asked the Investigative Committee to open criminal cases for negligence and violation of environmental regulations during the operation of the facility.
A criminal case has been opened in Dagestan for safety violations during the operation of hydraulic structures, resulting in fatalities, the Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the republic reported on its Telegram channel on April 10.
According to the investigation, officials of the organization operating the hydraulic structure in the Derbent district violated legal requirements by failing to ensure the proper technical condition of the facility and by failing to take measures to correct the identified violations. The hydraulic structure had a defect, the organization's management failed to establish a control system, ensure the availability of emergency rescue equipment, and fail to establish an emergency plan. Furthermore, under the declared state of emergency, responsible officials failed to take measures to prevent the accident.
The report clarifies that this refers specifically to the dam failure of the Gejukha Reservoir, which resulted in fatalities and property damage.
An engineer from a commercial organization, whose job responsibilities included ensuring the safe operation of the reservoir's hydraulic structures, has been detained on suspicion of committing the aforementioned crimes. The involvement of other individuals in the crimes is being investigated.
Flooding caused by heavy rains has been ongoing in the North Caucasus since late March, and has become one of the most destructive in recent years. The disaster caused the greatest damage in Dagestan and Chechnya, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Spring Flooding in the North Caucasus-2026." Six people died in the flooding in Dagestan, five of whom died in the village of Mamedkala and its environs: a pregnant 17-year-old local resident, a 12-year-old child, a five-year-old girl and her grandmother, as well as 70-year-old Aminat Musayeva, who was missing for three days. Earlier, on April 5, in the village of Kirki in the Kaitag District, a resident of a house destroyed by a landslide, local village council member Kistaman Mazanova, died. Authorities reported payments of one million rubles to the families of the victims.
The Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences linked regular flooding in Dagestan to a combination of natural processes and anthropogenic impacts, which increases the scale of natural disasters and increases the risks for people.
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