No less than 20 people died and 22 others have been injured in an accident aboard a Russian nuclear submarine in the Pacific Ocean, a spokesman for Russia's Investigative Committee said today.
This unfortunate incident is said to be the worst accident since 2000, when K-141 Kursk sank in the Barents Sea after a powerful explosion, killing 118 people.
The accident took place Saturday late at night, at some point in the sea trials of a nuclear-powered submarine on account of the unsanctioned activation of the Russian submarine's fire-extinguishing system.
The dead were 6 sailors and 14 civilians, the navy officials said. When the accident occurred, 208 people were onboard the watercraft, 81 service personnel counting among them. The reactor hadn’t been affected and radiation levels weren’t abnormal, said Capt. 1st Rank Igor Dygalo, an assistant to the Russian Navy commander.
"According to preliminary information, the incident killed 20 people - 6 sailors and 14 civilians who were aboard the submarine while 22 people received injuries of various gravity," said Vladimir Markin, a spokesman for Russia's Investigative Committee.
The injured people were evacuated from the submarine and they were rushed to a hospital aground where they received medical care, according to hospital officials from Pacific Fleet in Vladivostok. A source with the medical unit said the injured suffered various degrees of poisoning.
Russian investigators, who already opened a criminal probe into the accident, claim that Freon gas was the cause of death for people on board the watercraft.
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