KRASNOYARSK, September 11 (RIA Novosti) - A fund set up to help those who lost their relatives in last month's tragedy at a Siberian hydropower plant has received 16 million rubles ($520,000) in donations, the plant owner said on Friday.
Since the August 17 water surge which flooded a turbine hall in the Sayano-Shushenskaya station in Siberia's Khakasia Republic, 74 bodies have been found and one woman is still listed as missing.
State-controlled RusHydro, which opened the fund on August 20, said donations are still coming in.
RusHydro said it is also continuing its own compensation payments to the bereaved. As of September 10, the payments totaled 94.857 million rubles ($3 million). On September 9, the company's board of directors approved additional payouts, which will reach 55.5 million rubles ($1.8 million) by the end of this year.
The company expects that repairing the wrecked power plant could take up to two years, and Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko earlier estimated the cost at over 40 billion rubles ($1.2 billion).
The exact cause of the accident remains unknown, and the probe is continuing. A special investigations committee is looking into possible violations of work safety regulations.
