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Six Bodies Pulled From Russian Cosmodrome Debris
Monday, May 13, 2002
(1:38 PM ET)
By Shavkat Rakhmatullayev
Reuters

Rescue workers inspect the rubble inside the building No. 112, a vast hangar at Baikonur cosmodrome, May 13, 2002. A roof at the space complex, the linchpin of the Soviet space program, collapsed on May 12, trapping eight repair workers in rubble, space officials said.
Image Credit: Reuters.

Baikonur, which Russia rents from Kazakhstan under a 1994 deal, was the jewel of the Soviet Union's space drive, launching the world's first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, in 1961.

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan -- Reuters
Rescuers pulled the bodies of six workers from the rubble of a huge hangar at Russia's Baikonur space base in Kazakhstan Monday as experts began investigating why its roof caved in.

Eight repairmen were working on the roof of the cosmodrome's hangar, home to the Buran shuttle, Sunday when it collapsed, sending them plunging 260 feet.

Emergencies Ministry officials said there was little hope any of the eight would be found alive. "We have recovered six bodies," a Ministry spokesman said.

Industry, Science and Technology Minister Ilya Klebanov largely ruled out sabotage as he toured the site of the accident.

"Usually sabotage would involve an explosive device, but in this case there was no such thing," Klebanov, accompanied by Yuri Koptev, head of the Rosaviakosmos space agency, told NTV Television.

Klebanov, best known for overseeing the failed rescue and subsequent probe into the Kursk (news - web sites) submarine disaster, is to head a government commission investigating the Baikonur accident.
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