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APEC Road Collapse Prompts Official's Firing

Video of the road shot in November

The Primorye governor sacked the region’s head roads official following the destruction of a thruway built for an upcoming high-profile summit in Vladivostok.

The Far Eastern region’s governor, Vladimir Miklushevsky, announced the firing of the official, Andrei Razgonov, at a news conference Monday, Interfax reported. Two other bureaucrats were officially reprimanded for not fulfilling their duties.

Earlier this month, part of a newly constructed road linking Vladivostok’s airport to Russky Island, the site of September’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, collapsed after heavy rains. An attached retaining wall fell as well.

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev fumed over the accident at a meeting with his deputies last week, calling the erosion of the road reason to bankrupt the company that built it. First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said the road could be restored within two to three weeks.

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