Days after a nuclear-powered rocket exploded, killing five people and injuring others, authorities told people in Nyonoksa, a village in Russia’s north-west adjacent to a secretive military testing site, to leave their homes.
The evacuation order followed news of a 16-fold radiation spike in a nearby city and reports of pharmacies running out of iodine. A ban on civilian boats in the waters around the site added to the sense of panic. And then the authorities changed their minds: residents could stay. The village was safe, officials stressed.
