Deaths reported in Russian submarine accident

Moscow: At least 20 people were killed and 21 injured in an accident on board a Russian nuclear-powered submarine in the Pacific Ocean, a Russian naval spokesman said on Sunday.

"More than 20 people were killed on a nuclear submarine in the Pacific Ocean during routine testing as a result of the unsanctioned functioning of the fire extinguishing systems," the navy spokesman, Igor Dygalo, said.

Dygalo did not give the name of the submarine or specify where it was located. There were 208 people on board at the time of Saturday's accident, some of them from a shipbuilding company, he added.

"The reactor section (of the submarine) is working properly," the spokesman said. "The radiation levels on the ship are normal."

A Russian destroyer, the Admiral Tributs, was providing assistance and taking some of the injured crew from the submarine to port, Dygalo said.

He did not say where the ships were but the Tributs is normally based at Vladivostok, Russia's main Far Eastern naval port, according to Russian media.

President Dmitry Medvedev has been informed about the accident, Russian news agencies reported.

Major Russian naval accidents

Below is a timeline of Russia's main naval accidents since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991:

August 12, 2000: The Russian Oscar-II class submarine Kursk with 118 crew members sinks to the bottom of the Barents Sea after possibly a collision and two explosions on board.

June 16, 2000: Toxic fuel leaked from a ballistic missile and poisoned several servicemen at a naval base in Russia's Far East.

August 28, 2003: Russia's K-159 nuclear submarine sank while being towed to a shipyard. Nine crew were killed.

February 2004: Dressed in full naval uniform Russian President Vladimir Putin travelled to the Arctic to watch naval exercises but the focus - a ballistic missile launch - failed.

August 2005: The British navy rescued seven Russian sailors trapped in a sunk mini-submarine off Russia's Pacific coast.

September. 6, 2006: Fire on board the Viktor-3 class Russian navy submarine St. Daniel of Moscow, moored near the Finnish border, kills two crew members. A few hours later a missile launch failed.

November 8, 2008: Twenty people died and 21 were injured on board the Nerpa, classified by NATO as an Akula-class attack submarine, when its fire extinguishing systems unexpectedly went off during sea trials in the Pacific.