Nerpa Accident: Relatives Want Guilty Persons To Be Punished

05.10.2011 Relatives of those who died in the accident of SSN Nerpa disagree with jury's acquittal delivered on Sept 30, and plan to appeal to the Supreme Court, reported RIA Novosti on Oct 5 citing Tamara Filich, wife of chief engineer died in the accident.

Mixture of freon and carbon dichloride began to enter the submarine compartments as a result of spontaneous operation of firefighting system during trials in the Sea of Japan on Nov 8, 2008. Twenty persons out of 208 died in the accident, other 21 were intoxicated.

Investigators charged commanding officer of SSN Nerpa Dmitry Lavrentiev and bilge engineer Petty Officer Dmitry Grobov. Last Friday jury court acquitted both servicemen.

"The jury's decision seems unjustified. Persons guilty of the accident must be punished, and I will make a complaint to military collegium of the Supreme Court", said the interviewee.

She is going to talk to other relatives of people lost in the accident, and they will probably make a blanket complaint.

"All experts holding the inquiry told that was human factor, but jurymen for some reason took no notice of that..." said the interviewee.

Pacific Fleet (PF) Procuracy also disagrees with the verdict of jury court.

PF Military Judge Sergei Kolomiets told to RIA Novosti earlier that the accident happened because of unauthorized activation of onboard firefighting system filled with toxic carbon dichloride as basic extinguishant. According to the procuracy, the reason of that was human factor.