Three workers died and three more were injured on Friday during repair works at a processing plant owned by Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel, the company said. In the small hours of Friday an ore-reloading facility and the adjacent walkway collapsed during repairs to reinforce the structure, said the company. The plant is located in the city of Norilsk in Arctic Siberia. "As a result of the incident, three people died and three more people were hurt," Norilsk Nickel said. Citing preliminary information, the company said that the accident had taken place due to a "crude violation" of safety rules and the head of the plant had been suspended. The regional branch of the Investigative Committee said it had launched a criminal probe. Norilsk Nickel is the world's largest producer of palladium and one of the largest of nickel. The company has been in the spotlight since May last year when a fuel reservoir collapsed at a power plant owned by Norilsk Nickel and more than 20,000 tonnes of diesel oil leaked into lakes and rivers in the Russian Arctic This month a court ordered the company to pay a 146.2 billion ruble ($1.99 billion) fine over the fuel spill. as/pvh