Russian officer hangs himself on nuclear submarine

A Russian naval officer committed suicide by hanging himself onboard a nuclear submarine based at the northwestern port of Murmansk, a navy spokesman said Monday.

"Lieutenant Maxim Galkin, the head of the torpedo group on the Gepard submarine hung himself in his cabin," the spokesman for the navy's Northern Fleet told AFP.

"The officer did not leave any note explaining his action. An inquiry has been launched," spokesman Alexander Kuratov said.

Galkin, 24, had not seemed depressed before his suicide on Friday night, mass circulation Komsomolskaya Pravda reported earlier Monday, citing crew members. He left behind a wife and one-year-old child.

The Northern Fleet has been hit by a series of minor accidents and a deadly disaster in August 2000 that killed 118 seamen when the Kursk nuclear submarine caught fire and exploded while at sea.