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Originally Posted by CCIP
Well, the medical staff have confirmed that the cause of death for those killed was Freon poisoning. The casualties include 17 civilians and 3 navy crewmen killed, and 21 injured.
Apparently the submarine was submerged when the incident took place and the compartment bulkheads were locked, which both contained the incident, but also made it impossible to escape.
Interestingly, all of the crew, both military and civilian, are supposed to carry a portable oxygen bottle for breathing in these instances, at all times. Obviously the alarm is also supposed to go off to let them know to use the oxygen. The speculation now is that either they were not carrying their breathers, which would be a gross violation of safety, or that perhaps the alarm did not go off and they didn't know about the gas until it was too late.
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Your alarm theory could well be right when you consider the article states:
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The BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow says that in normal cases of a fire on board a submarine, the area would be evacuated and sealed off before pumping in freon gas.
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However:
6 Sept 2006: Two die after fire in Viktor-III class Daniil Moskovsky
28 Aug 2003: Nine die after decommissioned November class K-159 sinks
12 Aug 2000: 118 die in sinking of Oscar-II class Kursk
7 Apr 1989: 42 die after fire in Soviet-era Komsomolets
Is not a very impressive safety record
