Russia Buries First Dead In Submarine Accident

The funerals of the other victims are expected to take place in the next few days.

Twelve of the Russian men killed in an accident on board a nuclear submarine were buried with military honours on Wednesday near the shipyard where they worked.

Twenty people died on Saturday when the fire extinguishing system went off unexpectedly on board the Nerpa submarine, releasing toxic freon gas into the compartments and asphyxiating the victims.

Many of those aboard were technicians from the ship-building plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, near Russia's Pacific coast, which built the submarine. They were on board conducting sea trials when the accident happened.

Reuters Television pictures showed several thousand people waiting outside the plant to file past the open coffins.

The coffins were then taken in a procession through the streets to a cemetery. Relatives wept over them before they were lowered into the ground. A military guard of honour fired a salute over the graves.

The funerals of the other victims are expected to take place in the next few days.

"It is a tragedy for the whole town," said Olga Starodumova, whose husband works at the plant.

"I had to come," said another mourner, Natalya Viktorova. "My soul aches for all of them."

The accident on board the Nerpa raised new questions about the capability of the Russian navy, despite a drive by the Kremlin to restore its lost military might.

It was the worst accident to hit the Russian navy since an explosion on the Kursk submarine in 2000 killed all 118 sailors on board.

The chief of the Russian military's General Staff, Nikolai Makarov, said on Wednesday the navy planned to put the Nerpa into active service by the start of next year, Interfax news agency reported.

"Despite the sad accident in which people perished, during trials this submarine showed reliable functioning of all units, mechanical assemblies and control systems, obviously apart from the fire extinguishing system," Interfax quoted him as saying.