EMERCOM colonel: The gas explosion on Sibirskaya Street did not occur in the apartment of the Tagil woman who lost her daughter.

      Nizhny Tagil resident Elena Serbinova is accused of the deaths of 11 people in a gas explosion, including her own daughter. The prosecution’s case is based, among other things, on experts’ findings. But Elena actually proved that one can obtain a forensic explosives expert’s “credentials” without having specialized or technical education.

      Elena Serbinova and her neighbor Mikhail Kasyanov lost their daughters in the gas explosion at 81 Sibirskaya Street. A year later Elena was charged. The investigation relies on testimony from the medics who last treated Elena’s daughter Polina (the girl died at Children’s Hospital No. 9 a month after the explosion), as well as on forensic experts from Kirov.

      After studying the experts’ qualification documents, Elena and Mikhail doubted their competence and decided to conduct an experiment, the EAN agency reports. They sent their higher-education diplomas (in economics and law) to the St. Petersburg organization that had issued certificates to the Kirov specialists, and, after paying a small amount to the specified account, received certificates granting the right to make official determinations about the causes of gas explosions. The documents arrived via CDEK; Elena and her neighbor did not undergo any training.

      EAN also quoted Sergey Alekseev, a colonel of the Ministry of Emergency Situations from Yekaterinburg and a highest-category fire-and-explosion technician, who expressed doubts about the Kirov experts’ professionalism. He noted that a private, rather than a state, organization conducted the examination in such a high-profile case, which in itself contradicts the rules. He was also concerned about the Kirov experts’ education and experience, EAN writes.

      Alekseev also points out that the condition of the gas stove and the valve indicate that the explosion occurred elsewhere — not in Serbinova’s apartment, but in the building’s stairwell.

      Recall that Elena Serbinova is accused of causing death and inflicting serious bodily harm by negligence, as well as negligent destruction of property. According to investigators, the woman did not give the children instructions on using gas.

      The defendant herself insists that the gas riser in her apartment had been shut off (as reported, no one lived in the apartment; it had been vacant).