More than 20 dead in Russian submarine accident

Nov.8, an accident occured on a Russian nuclear submarine that killed 20 people aboard in the Pacific, the Russian navy said. Officials said three naval officers and 17 civilians had died in the accident. Dygalo said the victims included servicemen and shipyard workers who had been participating in the sea trials.

The submarine was carrying out sea trials when the accident occurred and the stricken vessel was ordered to put in at Bolshoi Kamen, near the far eastern port of Vladivostok. It was not known exactly where the accident occurred.

“The submarine is not damaged. Its reactor works as normal, and background radiation levels are normal,” Capt Dygalo said.

The incident recalled the 2000 Kursk disaster, when 118 crew died when their nuclear submarine sank after an explosion in the Barents Sea.

“The bodies of the dead have already been taken to Bolshoi Kamen, Vladivostok and Nakhodka” and included both military and civilian personnel, the spokesman for the Vostok shipyard in the port said.

A total of 208 people were aboard, but only 81 were servicemen; the others were naval technicians and specialists.

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