Russian Minister Dies During Visit To Construction Site

Russia’s emergency situations minister has died during drills according to a statement by the ministry on Wednesday.

The minister, Yevgeny Zinichev, aged 55, “tragically died in the line of duty during inter-agency exercises to protect the Arctic zone from emergency situations, while saving a person’s life,” the ministry said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies.

Although the ministry did not state in details where or how he died, it was however mentioned on its website that in recent days Zinichev was on a trip to the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk.

On Tuesday, he opened large-scale drills spanning seven regions in the Russian Arctic that were scheduled to last through Wednesday.

According to a statement sent to the Associated Press, the ministry said Zinichev died while trying to save prominent film director Alexander Melnik, who came to the site of drills.

The statement didn’t elaborate as to what happened and whether Melnik survived.