Kazakhstani News -- News You Can Trust?

Every morning, I look for news about submarines on the web; usually, if there's something important that's happened, there will be several stories from various news sources. Sometimes, though, there's something that's only single sourced, so I have to decide if it's likely true and worth the time to blog about it. Normally, I'll type up the post as I'm researching.

Today was such a day. My quick Google search had one article from Kazinform, which is some sort of news agency (or maybe just a web site) serving Kazakhstan, about an accident in a Japanese shipyard on one of their Japan's new Soryu-class submarines where 5 people were hurt. The article says that Kazinform got the report from ITAR-TASS; however, that Russian news agency doesn't have anything on their English-language website yet. Nor was there any mention in a Japanese news website. So, I'm left with the decision -- do I let my readers know about a potential submarine news item of interest, or do I not waste their time?

As it turns out, my blogging ended up being driven by the realization that I have to leave for work in 15 minutes. The bottom line -- some people may or may not have been hurt in a Japanese shipyard working on a submarine. If so, I hope they're OK. The Sub Report will have any updated information probably way before I do.

Update 1819 10 July: Edited the 2nd paragraph above to correct an unfortunate pronoun inconsistency. It looks like, in this case, the Kazakhstani news source was correct; here's confirmation of the incident from a Japanese paper. Apparently, 5 shipyard workers were shocked during a battery test.

Five shipyard workers were treated for burns Wednesday after receiving an electric shock while working inside a submarine docked at a pier in Hyogo Ward, Kobe, police said.
The five employees of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.'s Kobe Shipyard and Machinery Works were in a machinery room of the Maritime Self-Defense Force submarine Soryu when the incident occurred at about 7:20 a.m.
They were sent to hospital to receive treatment for burns to their faces and hands...
...According to the police and the shipyard, a series of electrical battery tests that commenced on Tuesday night was still under way in the machinery room at the time of the incident. One of the five workers mishandled a cable carrying a 500-volt current, causing a battery to release an atmospheric discharge that inflicted an electric shock on all five workers.

Ouch!