Blast at decommissioned Russian sub kills one

MOSCOW - One worker was killed and another seriously injured in an explosion on a decommissioned Russian nuclear submarine docked in the northern shipyard of Severodvinsk for dismantling.

There is no threat from radiation, Oleg Frolov, chief engineer of the Zvyozdochka shipyard, said on television. He said some diesel caught fire as workers dismantled an internal section of the submarine.

The nuclear reactor had been removed from the submarine before the fire, said Defence Ministry Spokesman Vyacheslav Sedov. The fire has been put out and a probe into the accident is underway, he said.

"There was simply the shell and they were simply cutting it up into parts like scrap-metal," Sedov said.

The Victor-class submarine was built at the end of the 1970's and taken out of service in 2004 for decommissioning.

- REUTERS