- Статьи
- Society
- Defenseless reaction: who will be responsible for the death of a girl in a fountain in the Belgorod region
Defenseless reaction: who will be responsible for the death of a girl in a fountain in the Belgorod region
In the Belgorod region, after the death of a teenager, all fountains will be checked, promised the head of the region Vyacheslav Gladkov. A criminal case has been opened on the provision of services that do not meet security requirements. According to preliminary data, a 13-year-old girl received an electric shock while playing in the jets of water in a pedestrian fountain — it has no bowl, borders, this design is specially designed to walk between the jets. Just a few days ago in Perm, a child who was playing in a similar fountain suffered a leg injury. The contractor responsible for monitoring the condition of facilities in the park or the company providing electricity supply may be responsible for the incident, experts interviewed by Izvestia believe.
The tragedy in the water
The contact fountain in the central park of the village of Tomarovka in the Belgorod region was temporarily fenced off, the water supply was stopped. A 13-year-old girl died here on June 2, 2025. Locals bring toys, flowers and chocolates to the scene of the tragedy. Previously, the child died after an electric shock.
All fountains in the region will be checked, said Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the region.
"We start checking the fountains today. We are waiting for the official conclusion of doctors and investigators," the governor wrote on the social network on Tuesday, June 3.
The Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee for the Belgorod region has opened a criminal case under the article on the provision of services that do not meet safety requirements, which led to the death of a person. A forensic medical examination has been ordered to determine the exact cause of the child's death.
"A set of investigative and other procedural actions is currently underway aimed at establishing all the circumstances of the incident, collecting and consolidating the evidence base," the agency said in a statement.
According to the Izvestia source, the schoolgirl was running in the fountain under the jets of water, then she was electrocuted.
"The girl was electrocuted until the fountain was turned off,— he added.
The father of the deceased Konstantin Kozmin
After the incident, Konstantin Kozmin, the father of the deceased, addressed Vyacheslav Gladkov on social media with a request to close and check all fountains.
The girl's father told Izvestia that he had last seen his daughter yesterday morning, and after that he and his wife went to work in Belgorod.
— Yesterday morning at 8:25 there was a bus to school, at 8:10 my daughter left home. I took the pump and went to the school camp. Then she agreed with her grandfather that he would pick her up. And after a while, the bell rang — Rita had fallen, her lips were turning blue, there was no breathing. We arrived, there was already an ambulance, they pumped it to the last, but they couldn't save it," he said. — Today they said 100% that there was an electric shock.
Konstantin Kozmin also said that the facility was recently launched, only on May 28, and there have already been complaints that it "bites." They are now looking for an electrician who repaired the fountain, he added.
"I'm an electrician by training, and there are really a lot of gross violations at the fountain," he said. — I don't know who allowed this fountain to be turned on and why it wasn't turned off if the children were being electrocuted.
The father of the deceased child would like to punish not only those who turned on the fountain, but also those who did not carry out routine maintenance and carried out its acceptance fictitiously.
According to Konstantin Kozmin, his daughter was "a giggler, a merry girl," graduated from seven cello classes, played the piano for five years and was fond of technology, and also rode roller skates, scooters, skateboards and scooters.
Earlier, at the end of May, in Perm, a teenage girl injured her toe while running in a similar pedestrian fountain - she got caught on the bars. The girl was hospitalized, now she is in a moderate condition, according to local media with reference to the Ministry of Health of the region.
Risk factors for electric shock
The probability of death when exposed to current is much higher than with other types of injuries, traumatologist Konstantin Starochkin noted in an interview with Izvestia. According to him, adolescents and young children are primarily at risk.
— The level of danger of electric shock is related to its characteristics, the duration of exposure, the amount of voltage and the physical health of a person, — the doctor emphasized. — Upon contact with alternating current above 100 milliamps, death occurs. In case of high-voltage shock, the development of electrical injury can occur even without direct interaction with the current source.
According to the expert, in the case of a girl in the Belgorod region, overheating or overwork could play a role, as they are among the risk factors that exacerbate injuries from electricity. Wet clothes also made the situation worse, he added.
The organization responsible for monitoring facilities in the park or the one that provides electricity to it may be to blame for the death of the child, lawyer Irina Hrytsenko believes.
"As a result of the examinations of the fountain and electrical wiring in the park, law enforcement officers must identify the perpetrators," she said.
According to the lawyer, those responsible for the teenager's death could face up to six years in prison.
Who should maintain the fountains
Regular maintenance and maintenance of public facilities, including fountains, is monitored by the business organizations responsible for them, an expert from the Popular Front told Izvestia. Analytics" by Elena Gladkova.
— For example, if an object is located on a municipal territory — a street, a square, a park — then the responsibility lies with the local administration, and if the object is located on the territory of an apartment building, then this is the responsibility of the management company or the homeowners' association, — said the expert.
She also stressed that the tragic incident with the death of a girl in a fountain in Belgorod revealed critical flaws in the security system of urban infrastructure facilities.
— This case highlights the need for strict control over the operation and maintenance of public spaces, especially those that are actively visited by children and adults, — said Elena Gladkova.
As part of the monitoring, the Popular Front has repeatedly drawn attention to the lack of an effective system for monitoring the state of urban infrastructure elements, the expert added. According to the results of inspections in 2024, it was revealed that some of the landscaped areas implemented as part of municipal projects lack the necessary elements of the security system. Construction debris, dangerous elements and equipment breakdowns at sports and playgrounds were also recorded.
In most cases, local authorities responded to the comments and eliminated some of the identified violations, said Elena Gladkova. But in a number of regions, violations identified during the monitoring of the improvement program in 2024 have not yet been eliminated, according to repeated inspections conducted by the Popular Front in April 2025.
Yuri Solnov, Executive Director of the interregional public organization Union of Fathers, agreed that urban infrastructure in the regions often does not meet the standards and its condition is not properly monitored.
"Facilities, especially old ones, are not checked often enough during operation, not with the frequency and thoroughness necessary to ensure safety," he stressed.
The city's engineering infrastructure must be updated every year, said Ilya Zalivukhin, an architect and urban planner. But, according to him, they began to engage in it only in the last ten years and "not as actively as necessary."
— We need to prioritize infrastructure projects by year based on a comprehensive strategy for the development of the city. Now more attention is being paid to landscaping, and it is worth thinking about monitoring and modernizing water and gas supply, sewerage. Engineering infrastructure should be a priority, but so far we are seeing the opposite," he stressed.
Tatyana Butskaya, First Deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Family Protection, Fatherhood, Motherhood and Childhood, added that the inspection of fountains and other urban infrastructure should be carried out every day, and not just before and after the start of the season.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
