A woman suffering from beast cancer was agonisingly crushed to death during a treatment session by a malfunctioning radiation machine.
Grandmother Valentina Minakova, 51, suffered fatal blows to her chest and abdomen as the medical apparatus squashed her in a hospital in the Russian city of Voronezh.
'She sustained body injuries that caused her death on the spot,' said the regional prosecutor's office.
One report citing a doctor said that the patient was 'screaming in agony' when the 'table' - part of the apparatus - on which she was lying suddenly moved upwards and wedged her against a moving part of the machine.
Victim Valentina Minakova, 51, with her husband Alexander who was waiting in the corridor when she was crushed to death by a malfunctioning radiation machine
The patient's alarmed husband Alexander was waiting in the corridor outside and rushed into the medical room.
'When he heard his wife screaming, he rushed inside and tried to save her from under the heavy machine but failed,' said one source.
Medical staff also tried to free the woman but were unable to do so.
A picture from LifeShot news outlet showed the scene where the woman died.
At the time of the accident, the Czech-made gamma-therapeutic Teragam radiation machine was being operated by a technician not a doctor.
The machine, made in 2006, has an emergency 'Stop' button but sources said either this did not work, or was not pressed.
Ivan Moshurov, chief doctor at the Voronezh Regional Clinical Oncology Centre, was initially described as too distraught to speak.
But later he said: 'The cover of the table on which the patient was located went
