Divers Find Bodies in Sunken Russian Sub

M U R M A N S K, Russia, Oct. 25, 2000 -- Deep-sea divers entered the hull of the sunken nuclear submarine Kursk today and found the bodies ofthree of the 118 victims, a Russian navy official said.

The bodies were found several hours after a team of Norwegian and Russian divers succeeded in cutting the first hole in the thick hull of the submarine on the bottom of the Barents Sea, Northern Fleet Chief of Staff Mikhail Motsak said on state-run RTR television.

The bodies were removed from the hull in preparation forbringing them to the surface, Motsak said.

The divers are getting the first close-up look at the interior of the stricken submarine since it sank after a massive explosion on Aug. 12.

It took a team of divers five days to cut one hole through the Kursk’s thick steel double hull, 356 feet below the surface in the cold waters of the Barents Sea. Divers used a stream of pressurized water mixed with diamond dust to slice through the 2.5-inch thick steel plate.

The recovery team lowered remote-controlled video camerasthrough the hole first to inspect the eighth compartment in the sub’s stern, and pumped out silt to improve visibility, said Navrotsky.

The divers also smoothed the jagged edge of three-foot-wide hole with a special cushion for safe entrance intothe wreck, he said.

Darkness, Debris and Currents

The divers must contend with darkness, currents, floating debris and confined spaces.

The head of the Russian Navy, Adm. Vladimir Kuroyedov, had earlier warned that he might cancel the recoveryeffort because of the danger of divers ripping their pressure suits or cutting their air hoses on mangled equipment and debris.

Kuroyedov flew to a Russian naval vessel at the scene today. He was accompanied by two widows of Kursk crew members, who brought flowers to cast into the water and home-baked pies to give the divers, the Interfax news agency reported.

Only the Russian divers will enter the Kursk, while theirforeign colleagues will assist from inside a diving bell lowered to the Kursk from the divers’ mother-ship, the Regalia.

To cut their way into the sub, divers had to wrestle with alayer of industrial rubber between the outer and inner hulls, and used a robotic arm to sever pipes and wires obstructing their work.

Recovering the Remains

The divers hope to cut more holes through the Kursk hull to pull bodies or body parts out into the ocean, then bring them to the surface to return to their families for burial. Russian naval officials said they only hope to recover about a third of the 118 seamen’s bodies, the rest likely blown to dust by powerful explosions that eviscerated the submarine.

President Vladimir Putin promised shortly after the Kurskexploded and sank during Aug. 12 naval exercises that he would recover the remains. Since then, many experts and even sailors’ families have called on the government to abandon the effort because of the risk to divers.

The government hopes to raise the Kursk and pull it to shore next spring for a close inspection that might shed light on the cause of the disaster. Russian navy officials have cited an internal malfunction, a collision with a World War II mine, or a collision with a foreign submarine as likely causes.