Update on russian explosion: hospitals weren’t warned that the patients were radioactive

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But on Wednesday, the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta said two of the patients that were injured in the blast died from radiation sickness before they could be taken to Moscow for treatment.

“Two of the patients did not make it to the airport and died,” a person cited as an unnamed medical worker involved in their care told the paper. “The radiation dose was very high, and symptoms of radiation sickness grew every hour.”

The news outlet also confirmed earlier reporting from the Moscow Times, another independent outlet, that health workers who treated those injured in the blast were not informed about potential radiation risk from handling the patients.

Four male doctors and a medical worker at the Arkhangelsk Regional Clinical Hospital, located near Severodvinsk, told the Moscow Times the facility received three men around 4:30 p.m. the day of the accident who were naked and wrapped in translucent plastic bags. Health care staff at the time were only told there had been an explosion hours earlier at a military site, the Moscow Times reported Friday.

“No one -- neither hospital directors, nor Health Ministry officials, nor regional officials or the governor -- notified staff that the patients were radioactive,” one of the clinic’s surgeons said. “The hospital workers had their suspicions, but nobody told them to protect themselves.”

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