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Altai epidemiological situation stable after fall of spacecraft

The tests of plants, vegetables and soil for nuclides and heavy metal salts were negative

GORNO-ALTAISK, September 27 (Itar-Tass) — The sanitary and epidemiological situation in Altai mountains has been stable after the failed launch of the Progress M-12M supply ship; no complications have been detected, according to environmental tests of samples taken near the probable crash site, the press service of the regional department of the Federal Service for Consumers Protection and Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor) reported on Tuesday.

The tests of plants, vegetables and soil for nuclides and heavy metal salts were negative. There have been no complaints about acute poisonings from the population.

The accident supposedly occurred over the Choya district on August 24, after the launch of a Soyuz-U booster carrying the Progress M-12M supply ship. A search party from the Roskosmos aerospace agency was looking for the crash site for a month. It only found an aluminum container with food for astronauts. Nothing else was found. Last week, the search party withdrew from the area.