Kurenivka Mudslide Tragedy 50 Years Ago

(Interfax-Ukraine) – The Kurenivka mudslide tragedy in Kyiv should be a lesson to everybody, and first and foremost, officials, said Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych
on March 13, 2011, the 50th anniversary of the mudslide in the Kurenivka district in Kyiv.

“The main cause of the tragedy was the neglect of public safety by the former government. Today, for the first time at the state level, we honour the victims of the Kurenivka disaster,” reads the address.

“I believe that this tragic event in the history of our nation should be thoroughly investigated, and the public should get complete and truthful information about it. The Kurenivka tragedy should be a lesson to all of us, first and foremost, those vested with power.”

The disaster occurred on March 13, 1961, when an estimated 2,000 people died, but only 146 people were officially recognized as casualties.

A dam securing the loam pulp dump of a brick factory near Babi Yar failed after rain, releasing large volumes of pulp down the high steep hill along the modern Olena Teliha Street. The slide immediately hit the lower-located Kurenivka neighbourhood. No official notification of the tragedy had been published by the Soviet authorities. No public remembrance activities were allowed. As a result of the subsequent investigation, several construction engineers and managers responsible for dam’s design and maintenance were accused of criminal negligence and convicted.

A monument to victims of the tragedy opened in March 2006.