MOSCOW (AFP) – A Russian nuclear submarine in which 20 people died after a toxic gas accident will be leased to India later this year, a Russian defense official was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

“On June 20 the vessel should finish all its tests. We are planning to hand the nuclear submarine over to India by the end of this year,” Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin said, quoted by Interfax news agency.
Popovkin was referring to the Nerpa, an Akula-class attack submarine that was the site of the one of the Russian navy's worst tragedies in recent years, Interfax reported.
The Nerpa was undergoing trials in the Sea of Japan last November when its fire-fighting system went off by accident, filling the submarine with a toxic gas that killed 20 sailors and shipyard workers.
Media reports said at the time that the Nerpa was to be delivered to India, under a deal in which New Delhi would pay Moscow two billion dollars for two submarines with an option to buy them when the lease runs out.