Initially, station workers attempted to corral the spill on their own and didn’t report the leak for two days, said a Russian minister.

The utility’s parent company, Nornickel, said the foundation of the storage tank possibly collapsed due to thawing permafrost, spotlighting the peril caused by warming temperatures on Arctic infrastructure, reported TASS.

that due to abnormally mild summer temperatures recorded in the past years, permafrost could have melted and the pillars under the platform could have sank,” said Nornickel chief operating officer Sergey Dyachenko.