A team of researchers claims to have detected radioactive material leaking from the former Soviet Navy nuclear submarine the ‘Komsomolets,’ which sank in 1989. Eerie footage from its final resting place has been shared online.
The joint Russian-Norwegian science team was conducting routine surveillance and monitoring of the stricken craft, which rests at a depth of some 1,700 meters, when one of the seawater samples tested positive for elevated levels of radioactivity.
One of three samples taken from the sub's ventilation pipe found radiation levels 100,000 times higher than those of ordinary seawater.
“The results are preliminary. We will examine the samples more thoroughly when we get home. The levels we have found here are 100 bq per litre,” researcher Hilde Elise Heldal of Norway’s Institute of Marine Research said.
It is not the first time radioactive material has been found leaking from the Soviet vessel; in 2007, a Russian expedition also detected a spike in nuclear emissions.
The submarine sank on April 7, 1989 after a fire broke out in the engine room. A total of 42 of the 69 crew members on board died while the rest were rescued by Norwegian fishing boats after spending several hours clinging to life in the icy waters, one of the greatest tragedies in Soviet naval history.
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