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MOSCOW - A Russian expert said Sunday that a lack of gas masks among too many untrained civilians may have elevated the death toll in a Sea of Japan nuclear submarine gas poisoning disaster, a news agency reported.
Gennady Illaryonov, formerly a high-ranking naval captain and a specialist in maritime technology, told Ria Novosti that an over-reliance on automated procedures aboard the Nerpa potentially increased the scale of the tragedy.
Twenty people died late Saturday of gas poisoning on the vessel due for leasing to India, according to state media, and another 22 were injured in an accident that revived memories of the Kursk submarine disaster in 2000, which killed 118 crewmen.
"I cannot exclude that among those civilians who found themselves on board, not everyone had the (necessary safety) equipment and that those who did may not have known how to use it," Illaryonov was quoted as saying.
Autopsies showed the victims died from inhaling freon gas released into part of the submarine when its fire extinguishing system activated for reasons that are unclear, news agencies quoted Vladimir Markin, spokesman for the federal investigative committee, as saying.
Submariners are normally issued with breathing apparatus to protect them in the event the gas is released, as well as training in how to use it -- which Illaryonov said is essential.
"The entire crew of this type of submarine must be issued with this equipment and know how to use it. One can breathe through this apparatus for 20 minutes," he stated.
"In cases of light intake, an intoxicating feeling results, but if the level is raised, (the gas) is lethal," he added.
Illaryonov said today's Russian nuclear submarines were heavily automated, with crews of only around 70 -- half the numbers manning equivalent US submarines, he added.
Undergoing testing ahead of its transfer to India, he warned that the unusually high number of military and civilian officials milling around -- there were a total of 208 people aboard, of which just 81 were service personnel -- would be difficult to supervise.
He said there was a lack of skilled personnel and experience today.
"In the Soviet era, we built between three and five submarines every year," he added. "People are less prudent than they were, and have lost certain (safety) reflexes."
- AFP /ls
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