Russia's nuclear agency said Saturday an explosion during missile testing in the Arctic left five of its staff dead and involved radioactive isotopes after a nearby city reported a spike in radiation levels.
Rosatom said the force of explosion on Thursday threw several of its staff from a testing platform into the sea.
The military had not initially said that the accident involved nuclear equipment, but said that radiation levels were normal afterwards.
Nevertheless, officials in the nearby city of Severodvinsk reported that radiation levels briefly increased after the accident.
The incident occurred in the far northern Arkhangelsk region during testing of a liquid propellant jet engine when an explosion sparked a fire, killing two, the defence ministry said in a brief statement.
It was not immediately clear whether those two deaths were included in the five that Rosatom had reported.
Russian state news agencies quoted a defence ministry source as saying both defence ministry and ...
