MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia removed three U.S. diplomats from a train near the site of a mysterious military accident on Monday because they did not have special permits to be in the area, the Interfax news Agency reported on Wednesday.

Russia’s state nuclear Agency Rosatom has admitted that five of its nuclear workers died in an explosion on August 8 during a rocket engine test near the White sea in Russia’s far North.

Interfax, citing a source, reported that the American diplomats were released, but believe that they violated Russian law.

“The American diplomats were on official business trips and duly notified the Russian authorities of their travel,” said a U.S. state Department spokesman in Washington.

Severodvinsk region was in the spotlight in August amid conflicting reports about the consequences of the explosion.

The defense Ministry initially said the radiation background remained normal after the incident, but the Russian state meteorological Agency said radiation levels in the nearby city of Severodvinsk had risen up to 16 times.

Reporting by Andrei Ostroukh; additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Alexandra Hudson and Lisa Shumaker

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