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Newspaper Svobodniy Sakhalin No. 3, January 15, 2004 ? ON THE EVENING OF DECEMBER 22, A SERIOUS ACCIDENT OCCURRED ON THE CONSTRUCTION SITE OF THE LNG PLANT IN PRIGORODNOYE.? A SIXTY-TON PILING CASING WAS TORN APART LIKE PAPER. ? Initial reports were received from an unofficial source, as it is customary to say. In brief, this is what took place. During the installation of the piling casing, stormy weather set in. The tugboat was not able to cope with the strongly rolling waves, and the barge carrying soil to fill the casing washed against the floating crane. As a result, the hulls of the crane and the barge were both breached and the casing (with a diameter a five-story building) was destroyed. On the following day, our team, consisting of this correspondent and a highly skilled welding specialist with experience in similar construction projects departed for Prigorodnoye. It was difficult to recognize the piling casing that several days before had been ceremoniously loaded onto a barge in Korsakov port.? Warped and distorted pieces of metal protruded from the water, giving the impression that something had run over the formerly cylindrical piling casing. The washing waves stirred the metal pieces, making clear that it was beautifully torn... WE HAVE SUCH ACCIDENTS ALMOST EVERY DAY!... ? Local residents and especially journalists are increasingly interested in work on shelf development projects. To the best of our abilities, we are following developments on a variety of construction sites. However, project directors only inform the press of those details that are in their interest: all sorts of new construction, equipment launches, etcetera. If events out of the ordinary occur, there is only silence. We learn about events of that sort from independent sources, as in this case. Since any information should be verified, we went to two sources:? the Sakhalin-2 project operator, Sakhalin Energy Company, and to the general contractor for construction of the liqui