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Russian Sub Accident Kills 20

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The New York Times

Published: November 10, 2008

MOSCOW - A brand-new Russian nuclear submarine returned to base on Sunday after an accident with its fire-extinguishing system flooded two compartments with Freon gas, killing 20 people and injuring 21, Russian officials said.

Russian naval officials would not identify the submarine, but a state-owned news agency said it was the Nerpa, an Akula-class attack submarine. It was undergoing tests in the Sea of Japan at the time of the accident. A Russian navy spokesman, Igor Dygalo, reported that the sub's nuclear power reactor had not been damaged and that radiation levels were normal.

The vessel was scheduled to be commissioned in the Russian navy later this year, and most of the dead were shipbuilding workers on board to conduct tests. An additional 167 people on board were not injured, Dygalo said.

The naval base to which the sub returned was not disclosed, though the accident occurred near Vladivostok, site of the main base in Russia's far east.

It was the most deadly accident on a Russian submarine since 2000, when an explosion aboard the nuclear submarine Kursk caused it to sink in the Barents Sea. Many of the 118 men aboard survived the sinking, but were dead by the time the vessel was brought to the surface, prompting criticism that then-President Vladimir Putin had reacted slowly.

The government's response to this accident has been notably different. Within hours of the malfunction, President Dmitri Medvedev asked his defense minister for continual briefings and pledged support to victims' families.

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