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Mass pneumonia at the Siberian military unit arouses public concern

An epidemic of mass pneumonia broke out at the military division based in Uzhur

KRASNOYARSK, February 9 (Itar-Tass) —— No servicemen sick with pneumonia have remained at a missile division stationed in Uzhur in the Krasnoyarsk Territory; all the sick servicemen have been hospitalized. The military division continues the military service in the scheduled regime, Colonel Andrei Kruglov, Deputy Commander of the military division, told Itar-Tass on Thursday.

Late on Wednesday two helicopters of the Defense Ministry airlifted 21 sick servicemen to a military hospital in Novosibirsk, Colonel Kruglov said. Eighteen more servicemen are undergoing treatment at a hospital in Krasnoyarsk, and eleven servicemen have been staying at a local hospital, Colonel Kruglov said. The overall number of servicemen hospitalized has risen to 50.

Except three soldiers, who are staying at the intensive therapy unit at the Krasnoyarsk hospital, doctors have expressed no concern about the condition of the other servicemen hospitalized, Colonel Kruglov said.

A deputy of the Krasnoyarsk Legislative Assembly, Yuri Shvytkin, and other public activists have arrived at the military division on Thursday to study the situation in detail, Colonel Kruglov said.

An epidemic of mass pneumonia broke out at the military division based in Uzhur in the Krasnoyarsk Territory in the beginning of February. On February 7 an 18-year-old private, Ivan Permitin, died of septic shock at a clinical hospital in Krasnoyarsk. At present, three servicemen have been staying at an intensive therapy block; one of them is in a very bad condition.

An inquest into the incident of mass sickness continues.