Today, on February 7, 2023, the management of ArcelorMittal Zenica held a press conference regarding the incident in the Bosna River on January 31, 2023, for BH media representatives, with the aim of additional clarification of:
• elements of the incident,
• the causes of the incident,
• as well as the measures taken to ensure that such an omission does not happen again.
First of all, the CEO, Nikhil Mehta, apologized to the citizens of Zenica for the incident that happened in our Company and reminded that ArcelorMittal Zenica has always taken environmental protection seriously and will continue to be a responsible citizen of Zenica. The way we operate implies a commitment to transparency towards the local community and public in B&H, and that is the additional reason for today’s event.
Nikhil Mehta: “ArcelorMittal Zenica is a sincere citizen of Zenica and takes the environment very seriously. This incident is unacceptable to all of us and we want to clarify to all citizens the issue that happened, and the steps that were taken by us to prevent such incidents from happening again in the future. I would like to apologize for all the inconvenience & disturbance that has been caused due to this incident. My team has done a detailed root cause analysis and the same will be transparently shared by them“
As a reminder, on January 31, 2023, in the morning hours, there was overflow and discharge of muddy water in the collector resulting in the red water in river Bosna. As soon as we received information about the incident, the entire management was focused on determining the cause of the problem. After a week of investigation, It was established that the underground reservoir which was blocked in 2019 had been unblocked due to ground moments which resulted in a gap through which the muddy water passed through.
Adnan Topalović, director of the Department for CAPEX and projects: “After a deep dive into the DHD system, a detailed root cause has been established along with actions to prevent the incident in the future. The system has been working on auto mode for many years and such an incident was never envisaged by the team.”
Azra Sivro, director of the Department for Environment and Energy, points out “that the muddy water did not jeopardize the flora and fauna in the river Bosnia, since no dead fish were recorded”.
In addition, the team members explained a series of measures taken to eliminate the problem in the long term and prevent its recurrence:
1. The underground shaft was checked and the damage closed to prevent a new leak
2. Reducing the make water by reinforcing the closed-loop system
3. Installation of mobile filtering unit for emergency
ArcelorMittal Zenica has invested heavily in environmental protection in the last few years, and we remain committed to future investments that will bring all points from environment permit in compliance.
