Countdown to death as storm foils N-sub rescue

The 116 men trapped on the sunken nuclear submarine Kursk will run out of air tomorrow morning unless they are rescued.

Three attempts to save them failed yesterday because of rough seas on the surface, powerful currents on the seabed and the stricken submarine's 60-degree list.

Last night, it appeared that Russian admirals had swallowed their pride and finally sought Britain's help.

The British have a special mini submarine called an LR5 which is more manoeuvrable than its Russian counterparts and therefore considered more likely to be able to attach itself to the escape hatches of the listing submarine.

With a crew of three, it would be able to rescue 16 people at a time.

A transport plane carrying the LR5 was cleared to take off from Scotland last night and was expected to fly to Trondheim in Norway, from where it would go to the disaster site in the Barents Sea on a chartered vessel.

Since the Kursk went down the only contact from the men has been the frantic tapping of SOS signals on the hull.

These grew steadily weaker and ceased altogether yesterday morning New Zealand time, prompting Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov to say there were no signs of life on board, although this did not necessarily mean that the crew were all dead.

The head of Russia's Northern Fleet press office, Vladimir Navorotsky, agreed that the knocking had stopped but denied that contact had been lost.

"One needs to take into account the mentality of submarine officers. Once they knew rescue capsules were above them, they maintained silence," he said, referring to the need for the sailors to save oxygen by avoiding physical effort.

Relatives of the crew, who were taken to the northern naval base of Severomorsk, where they were confined to a Navy hospital ship, were not reassured.

Valentina Starotseltseva, the mother of one of the crewmen, said: "The information is not adequate. The whole family is just sitting in front of the TV for the second day.

"We don't understand why they are not saving our children."

Among the relatives is Dmitry Lachkov, a naval cadet whose father, Gennady, is captain of the Kursk.

"We've only one wish - that this all ends well as soon as possible," he said.

The Kursk's nuclear reactors are shut down, and it is believed that the sailors are not only running out of air, but are in complete darkness.

Adding to their discomfort is the bitter cold 108m under the Barents Sea.

The sailors are likely to be lying down to save energy and oxygen as carbon dioxide levels increase.

"What remains is our hope, which leaves us fewer and fewer chances every day," said Vladimir Kuroyedov, commander of the Russian Navy.

"Our calculations show that by August 18, they will run out of oxygen."

Navy commander Admiral Kuroyedov has said that the next step could be to use two 400-tonne inflatable pontoons to attempt to lift the whole vessel to within 50m of the surface, so scuba divers could complete the rescue mission.

Most experts say the chances of this plan succeeding are extremely slim and would probably cause the submarine to break up under the pressure of the harnesses and nosedive back to the seabed.

This possibility is likely to have figured in the Russians' decision to try Britain's more sophisticated technology.

The latest theory on what caused the submarine to sink is that it struck a mine left after the Second World War.

But Russian Navy headquarters said evidence from the site supported the theory that a huge explosion had occurred on board, perhaps caused by torpedoes which failed to fire, blowing up the nose of the vessel.

Meanwhile, Norway's radiation agency says tests of waters near the stricken submarine show no sign of radiation leaks.

- AGENCIES

Hopes of revived glory scuppered

Herald Online stories: Russian sub in distress

Russian Centre for Arms Control: OSKAR subs

World Navies Today: Russian subs

Russian Navy official website