A rocket engine explosion on a naval test range in northern Russia has killed two people and injured six, the defence ministry told Russian media.
The victims of the explosion in Arkhangelsk region were civilian specialists while military and civilian personnel are among the injured.
The ministry said radiation levels were normal but the city of Severodvinsk registered a “brief spike” in levels.
An area of the White Sea nearby has reportedly been closed for a month.
But the deputy head of Archangelsk port, Sergei Kozub, told the BBC the closure was planned before the accident.
Radiation levels began falling again between 11:50 and 12:30 (08:50-09:30 GMT) and had normalised by 14:00, the city administration in Severodvinsk said on its website, without reporting how significant the spike had been.
It is unclear what could have caused radiation levels to rise.
Local people were reportedly urged to take precautions against radiation. No increase in ambulance call-outs was recorded, the administration added.
A woman in Severodvinsk named only Alina told Russian news site lenta.ru: “I work in the hospital where they’re bringing the injured.
“They advise everyone to close their windows and drink iodine, 44 drops per glass of water.”
Children in local kindergartens were taken indoors after reports of the blast and parents were advised not to take them outside in the evening, other residents were quoted as saying.
What do we know about the explosion?
The defence ministry did not say officially where or when the blast occurred but unofficial sources say it happened near the village of Nyonoksa, where a navy missile test range is located.
Nyonoksa is about 47km (29 miles) west of Severodvinsk, which has a population of nearly 200,000 and is 1,260km from the Russian capital, Moscow.
“During testing of a liquid jet engine an explosion and combustion of the product occurred,” the ministry said in a statement.
“There have been no harmful chemicals released into the atmosphere, the radiation levels are normal.”
Emergency aircraft were used to airlift the injured. They included defence ministry officials and developer company representatives, who “had injuries of varying severity”, the statement added.
There had been earlier reports of a fire at a military facility near Nyonoksa. Telegram-based media outlet Mash said radiation levels in the village were three times higher than normal.
Nyonoksa carries out tests for virtually every missile system used by the Russian navy, including sea-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and anti-aircraft missiles.
It is the second accident involving Russia’s military this week.
On Monday, one person was killed and eight others were injured in a blaze at an ammunition dump in Siberia.
Flying munitions damaged a school and a kindergarten in the area. More than 9,500 people were evacuated.
An investigation is under way into the cause of the incident.
(c) BBC
Sounds like Russia just nuked themselves. They couldn’t wait for the US to nuke them.
I hope Finland wakes up to what their foul eastern neighbors are doing.
I made a test page. It can be used as an alternative to the homepage. You can preview it in the pages section. I didn’t publish it, so only admin can see it.
I like it too. I like the brief synopsis like other websites have. So far we have avoided clutter which is nice IMO.
There are 3 different layouts, they are category based excerpts. Maybe we could make a test page of each layout, and see what the guys think. Either try the new layout, or keep it as it is. With it being dynamic, any new post would automatically go to the top of the layout, pushing older news off the page. Old news would still be accessible on the news or blog page.
Six people have been affected by severe radiation exposure as a result of a blast at a navy missile training ground in the town of Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk region, Russia. They have been delivered to Moscow by air, according to the Baza Telegram channel. The injured – Igor Berezin, Sergey Plaksin, Alexey Perepelkin, Dmitry Abalin, Alexander Manyusin and Sergey Grishin – are en route to Burnasyan Federal Medical Biophysical Center of Federal Medical Biological Agency majoring in radiation and nuclear medicine. It is reported with reference to sources in the Russian Defense Ministry that all the clothes of the injured and doctors, as well as chemical protection suits were burned.
Wjatever it was, it certainly wasn’t a rocket fuel spill like Russia are claiming. They were testing some kind of nuke. All the shops in nearby towns have run short of iodine, obviously the Russian public don’t trust the Kremlin explanation too much.
Let’s hope it’s not Chernobyl-like, me and Knut prefer to stay alive…
No worries, it was the first test, dozens more to come………………….
That’s a comfort. Bedankt, Veth…
Can’t they test their nuclear shit in da east? The Kursk and Nordstream 2 are already an environmental time bomb to Scandinavia!
Russia – Winning the Nuclear War. One Town at a time.
I think the US is quite safe from any nuke attack by Russia, but on the other hand, can’t say the same about Russia.
When the “authorities” from Pootlerstan say ” we had a missile explode but no chemicals were released and radiation levels are normal”, you can be fairly certain they had a serious fack up. Another key is the iodine drops in water to drink. These would be essentially the same “authorities” that innitially denied Chernobyl.
Which way was the wind blowing will tell where radiation sensors will alarm or get a reading.
Stoopid Pootlerstan! And these idiots want to rule the world??!
They also closed off the White sea for a month, but everything is fine.