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Accident kills 20 on Russian nuclear sub

At least 20 people were killed and 21 hurt in an accident on a Russian nuclear submarine in the Sea of Japan, the navy said yesterday, the worst such incident since the Kursk disaster.

The nuclear reactor that powers the submarine was undamaged in the accident and background radiation levels in the vicinity of the accident in a Russian naval testing zone were “normal,” a naval spokesman said.

“During sea trials of a nuclear-powered submarine of the Pacific Fleet the firefighting system went off unsanctioned, killing more than 20 people, including servicemen and workers,” said Captain Igor Dygalo, the navy’s spokesman.

The RIA Novosti news agency said the submarine was undergoing sea trials in preparation for delivery to India’s navy but this was not confirmed by officials.

The victims included both servicemen and shipyard workers aboard the submarine for sea trials, Dygalo said. ITAR-TASS news agency said the dead included six sailors and 14 civilians.

The injured were evacuated from the stricken submarine aboard an accompanying ship and were taken to a hospital on shore where they were being treated, ITAR-TASS and RIA Novosti quoted officials as saying.

A source with the Pacific Fleet’s hospital in Vladivostok said that the 21 injured people evacuated from the submarine aboard a destroyer were suffering various degrees of poisoning.

Other sources, who requested anonymity, said an additional 20 people with less serious poisoning were being treated aboard another ship, the Sayany, which was escorting the submarine.

The accident occurred on Saturday and Dygalo said Russian President Dmitry Medvedev had been briefed on the situation by Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and had ordered a “full and meticulous” investigation.

Dygalo did not identify the submarine involved and did not explain how the accidental activation of the ship’s fire extinguishing system resulted in the casualties.

However, a source in the Amur shipyard administration named the submarine as the K-152 Nerpa, a nuclear-powered submarine of the Project 971 Shchuka-B type, or Akula-class by NATO classification, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

RIA Novosti said the Nerpa was undergoing sea trials in the Russian part of the Japanese Sea.
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