Russian emergency minister tragically dies on duty

"The Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations regretfully informs that Yevgeny Zinichev died tragically in the line of duty when he was saving a person's life at interdepartmental drills on protecting the Arctic zone from emergencies", the ministry said in a statement, according to Sputnik.

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.

The Sputnik cited preliminary reports as saying that the minister was standing on the edge of a cliff, when a cameraman slipped and fell. Zinichev immediately dove from the cliff in an attempt to save the former from the water, but hit a rock, receiving serious injuries.

In 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.

KI/PR