In the apartment in Riga on Bauskas Street, where the explosion occurred on Friday, the illegal gas pipeline was connected to the gas stove, not to the heating system of the home. This was reported by the chairwoman of the board of Gaso, Ilze Petersone-Godmane, in the Latvian Television program Rīta panorāma.
According to her, a day before the explosion, Gaso employees arrived at this apartment with an order from the supplier to disconnect the gas supply, "because, apparently, the specific client either did not fulfill some obligations or lost the contract."
"Upon arriving at the site and performing standard actions, working with gas analyzers, our employees recorded a suspiciously high concentration of gas — it was not critical, but exceeded the permissible level. They began to search for the source of the leak. Essentially, it was only necessary to seal the meter, that is, to stop the gas supply. And at the moment when the cabinets were moved aside, it turned out that there was an illegal connection at this address," said Petersone-Godmane.
After that, another Gaso team was called, which dismantled the entire gas riser.
"By the time the Gaso employees left on January 1, only a 50-centimeter section of pipe remained in the apartment, protruding from the floor. That is, the meter, the riser equipment, and everything that would allow a person to use natural gas in any way was completely dismantled," explained Petersone-Godmane.
The scheme of the illegal connection shows that the resident connected it for the gas stove, not for heating the apartment.
"This is not even about the fact that the illegal gas supply was used for heating the home or allowed saving through stolen gas. We are talking about a gas stove, which consumes 2-3 cubic meters of natural gas per month for the residents. The absurdity of this tragedy lies precisely in the insignificant gain that a person received by committing illegal actions," emphasized Petersone-Godmane.
However, the very next day, on Friday, January 2, the emergency service received a report that repair work of an unknown nature was being carried out in the apartment where the explosion later occurred. Gaso employees again went to the scene — this time an accident had happened there.
After the incident, Gaso analyzed the situation, Petersone-Godmane said: "All actions that were performed upon arrival at the site were carried out in accordance with our response algorithm to calls. Within three days, we completely analyzed everything — and I can say that such an absolutely tragic incident should never have happened."
As previously reported, on Friday, January 2, as a result of the explosion, the structures on the upper floors of a five-story building on Bauskas in Riga collapsed, killing two.
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