Pacific Court Martial continues hearings of the case on accident happened to SSN Nerpa in 2008. The court session held on Aug 30 listened to evidence of chemical experts, told St. Petersburg Submariners' Club to Central Navy Portal.
The first witness was former Pacific Fleet (PF) Chemical Officer Rear Admiral (retired) Alexander Maksimov. According to eyewitnesses, the jury was told that the primary reason of casualties was toxic agent carbon dichloride which made 66% of fire-extinguishing mixture in onboard firefighting system. Recall that Admiral Maksimov voiced this supposition back in May 2011 during panel discussion of investigation results.
The next witness was the head of PF Toxicological Laboratory. He also affirmed that the reason of casualties was mixture of freon and carbon dichloride.
The judicial process over Capt 1 rank D. Lavrentiev and Petty Officer D. Grobov charged of the Nerpa accident started in May 2011. At present, the jury listens to defense witnesses. At the first stage – until Aug 22 – the jury asked witnesses for prosecution, including admirals Vysotsky and Zakharenko, representatives of NPO Avrora and the shipyard, crewmembers and others. Then will be arguments, final speech of the charged persons, and the verdict of the jury which will be a basis for the court decision.
The court process entered the closing phase. According to the participants, it would finish in Sept 2011.
Presently, SSN Nerpa completes acceptance trials and will be leased to Indian Navy for 10 years in 2011.