Villagers around Russian rocket crash say they're sick

Villagers living in the vicinity of a Russian rocket crash are complaining of ill health possibly caused by toxic space debris, officials in Russia's Altai Republic says.

Eight residents of the remote central Asian Choisky district were found to have developed similar symptoms after a Progress rocket booster smashed into Taiga forest after a failed Wednesday space shot, staff at a local hospital said.

All lived in the vicinity of the village Karakoksha and were suffering from increased blood pressure, coughs and fever, Interfax reported.

A Progress cargo rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in neighbouring Kazakhstan on Wednesday evening left its planned trajectory and, breaking into pieces, crashed some 1,500 kilometers downrange.

The third stage of the booster struck ground in the Altai's Choisky district. An estimated 1.5 tons of highly-toxic liquid fuel was likely still on board, according to local news reports.

Exposure to the fuel could cause headaches, nausea and breathing difficulties.

Russian mission control officials sometimes rely on the help of residents of Russia's Central Asian and Siberian districts, the main landing area for Russia's space programme, to locate space objects returning to Earth.

But health officials denied there is a link between the Progress rocket's crash and possible health problems of Altai district residents.

"We have checked the area and waterways in the vicinity, and our tests have shown there has been no contamination," said Gennady Onishchenko, Russia's chief health inspector, in comments to Interfax. "These complaints must have some other cause."

The Progress rocket crash destroyed a Russian government GLONASS navigation satellite. The failure followed an August 18 launch by a Proton rocket, also from Baikonur, which caused the total loss of a Russian government communications satellite by placing it in an incorrect orbit.

Russia's national space agency has announced a wide-reaching investigation into the country's rocket fleet and the Baikonur cosmodrome, as a result of the two accidents.