Incidents
In 1989, five people were killed in an explosion at the Barentsburg mine. On 18 September 1997, 23 Russian and Ukrainian miners were killed in an explosion at the Barentsburg mine. This was the most serious mining accident ever on Norwegian soil. In April 2008, two people died in the fire at the Barentsburg mine.
On 17 October 2006 Norwegian inspectors detected an underground, smoldering fire in Barentsburg, prompting fears that an open fire might break out, which would have forced the evacuation of all of Barentsburg for an indefinite period of time, and also caused unknown environmental problems for the entire archipelago.
On 29 August 1996, the Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801 en route to the Svalbard Airport, Longyear, with Arktikugol workers and their relatives aboard crashed into the mountain Operafjellet on Spitsbergen killing all 141 people on board. On 30 March 2008, three people were killed on the Heerodden helicopter accident. In April 2009, Arktikugol was sentenced to pay a 50.000 NOK corporate penalty for helicopter flights in a protected nature area on Svalbard.
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“An element of exaggeration clings to the popular judgment: great vices are made greater, great virtues greater also; interesting incidents are made more interesting, softer legends more soft.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)