Russian Federation, An Iced and Frozen House in Irkutsk Still Shelters Five Families
An amazing case has been recorded in the Siberian city of Irkutsk in January of this New Year 2020. A five - storied brick made house located in Street Sovietskaya, 176, formerly residential, has been found totally frozen and …..yet still inhabited by humans, according to the information provided by City Mayor’s office and local media.
The house was built in 1983 and used to be a dormitory for many years, sheltering former Irkutsk Aviation Engineering college military cadets, officers and their families.
‘’ After the college was disbanded in 2016, the dormitory building was handed over by the Defense Ministry to the local municipality without the land plot, and due to this, the municipal property rights have not been registered in the due legal order. This fact has stripped us of the legal right to render this house untenable and evacuate the tenants and their families who still live in this building ‘’ , — Vladimir Prelovsky, Chairperson of the Oktyabrsky City District Management Committee is quoted as saying.
According to him, the City Government has proposed that the families inhabiting the house be provided with free legal assistance in making relevant documents issued which would enable to confirm their legal rights for using the residential space and help the tenants be put on the list of those in need of better housing on a social rent contract.
According to the IA REGNUM Agency (ИА REGNUM) , the fact of people still living in the untenable building of a former dormitory leaked after some photos had been posted on the ‘’Typical Irkutsk’’ page in the VKontakte, most popular Russian social media network.
The photographer clarified that the horrible sight of a residential house, totally frozen, with people inside, occurred due to the fact of the basement water supply pipes damaged and leaking.
Upon receiving the news, the Irkutsk regional Investigation Committee Office of the Russian Federation started a probe into the case suspecting that this might be subject to criminal punishment under Article 293 of the Russian Criminal Code (‘’Criminal Negligence’’).
It turned out that the house is legally no one’s property, and Siberian frosts have turned it into an iced fortress, the realm of the Snow Queen, with the people inside taken hostage by Her.
The house is totally untenable, with regular water supply cuts and electrical power outages.
The ‘’SOS’’ and ‘’It is impossible to live here’’ signs can be seen in some windows of the house.
But the people survive somehow, and some light is also seen at night time, testifying to human presence in this eerie building.