Twenty die in Russian nuclear sub accident

Another Russian submarine accident, like the sinking of the Kursk,this shows Russia's inability to operate a naval fleet, unlike the U.S. Navy ,the Russian navy operates on a " we Just don't care about you attitude"

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) - Twenty people were killed on board a Russian nuclear submarine, the navy said on Sunday, in an accident that exposed the gap between the Kremlin's ambitions and its military capability.

The accident, which happened while the submarine was on sea trials in the Pacific Ocean, was the deadliest to hit Russia's navy since the Kursk nuclear submarine exploded beneath the Barents Sea in 2000, killing all 118 sailors on board.

Prosecutors investigating the latest incident said they suspected the victims died after inhaling a toxic gas used as a fire suppressant when the vessel's fire extinguishing systems went off unexpectedly.

....Probably "Halon Gas" when discharged it sucks the Oxygen out of the air, you literally have seconds to get out! Halon 1301, is the same thing as freon 13b1.

It was not clear why the portable breathing gear usually issued to Russian submarine crews did not save them.

"Twenty people died," the Prosecutor-General's Office said in a statement. "Results of a preliminary investigation show that death occurred as a result of freon gas entering the lungs."

A navy spokesman said the submarine's reactor was not damaged and was the vessel now moored at the Bolshoi Kamen naval base on the Pacific.

"It returned under its own steam, under escort by the Sayany rescue vessel. It is being moored at the anchorage," spokesman Captain Igor Dygalo said. "The radiation levels on the ship are normal."

Another 20 people were injured and transferred to a military hospital in Vladivostok.

President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the Defense Ministry to carry out a full inquiry, the Kremlin press service said.

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