Eerie black snow. Picture: nataseife, Typical Kemerovo

Prosecutors in Kemerovo region are reportedly checking the cause of black snow over three cities in the coalmining region - Prokopyevsk, Kiselyovsk and Leninsk-Kuznetsky.

Pictures shared by locals show alarming black winter scenes with one comment reading: ‘Is this what snow looks like in hell?’

Others have claimed there is a beauty in the bleak snowscapes.

Local media have blamed the gloom on local plants processing coal.

Director general of Prokopyevskaya factory Anatoly Volkov explained to Vesti-KUzbass TV channel that a shield stopped working at his plant protecting the air from coal powder.



Ghostly pictures of dark snowscapes - which should be pristine white - as blame pointed at failure to filter fumes at coal plant. Pictures: Typical Kemerovo

Deputy governor of Kemerovo region Andrei Panov - in charge of ecology - is to meet local environmentalists to discuss the matter.

He suggested this plant was not the only cause of the problem.

Coal boilers, car exhausts and other coal-burning plants were also to blame.

On social media residents point the finger at other plants too, alleging there is a long-term lack of environmental protection in an region that’s lifeblood is coal.

‘No cleansing systems, all the waste, dust and dirt, coal lay in the area. Our children and us are breathing it. It's just a nightmare,’ said one.

Another commented: ‘The government bans smoking in public. But let us inhale coal dust all together and let it reside in our lungs.’



Black snow falls over Siberian region triggering acute pollution concerns from locals. Pictures: Nataseife, kamenkseni, Typical Kemerovo

Many on social media concerns about pollution.

The region ‘is just a place for extracting resources’ with the authorities not caring about ‘living conditions (and) culture’, was one angry comment.

’It is not surprising that our people have no taste in art, it simply can't form when you live around ugly sculptures covered with black snow, and slide down a black slide, and see dirty monuments.’

Cars were seen covered in grime but many expressed most concern over young lungs.

‘The future of our children is terrifying.’

Pictures from Kemerovo region by Orlovprklife, Willravilov, Typical Kemerovo