Note on sailor's body shows 23 survived Kursk blasts

MURMANSK - The last scribbled words of a dying officer aboard the Kursk submarine indicated that at least 23 members of the 118-man crew did not die instantly, as previously thought.

The sinking of the Kursk on August 12 prompted an international rescue operation which ultimately proved fruitless.

Russian officials said towards the end that they believed all hands had died within the first two minutes of the disaster.

But a letter, found yesterday in the pocket of one of four sailors retrieved from the submarine, suggested some of the crew perished much later.

"It's 13:15. All personnel from sections six, seven and eight have moved to section nine.

"There are 23 people here. We have made the decision because none of us can escape," the letter said, according to Itar-Tass news agency.

"I am writing blind," and "13.5" were the only other words scribbled on the paper, Tass said.

It identified the author as Lieutenant-Captain Kolesnikov.

The Russian Navy confirmed that a letter had been found in the pocket of a dead crew member showing that many of the crew did not die instantly, but did not mention the number of sailors the letter had referred to.

The Northern Fleet's chief of staff, Vice-Admiral Mikhail Motsak, said in a televised statement that the letter was private and would be handed to relatives.

But he added that it contained some important information about the accident in the Barents Sea.

Motsak said the letter was written within the two hours after 1:15 pm on August 12 and said crew members from several sections had managed to gather in the rear part of the vessel but failed to escape.

Confusion remains over the time of the disaster.

Initial reports said it happened on August 13, but officials later said they lost contact with the Kursk at 11.30 pm on August 12.

Some media have suggested it could have happened as early as 11.30 am.

A team of divers working from the Norwegian platform, the Regalia, had on Thursday punched a first hole in the Kursk's hull and pulled four bodies out.

Further work inside the submarine had been called off yesterday because of deteriorating weather in the Barents Sea.

A spokesman for the Northern Fleet, to which the Kursk belonged, in the northern port of Murmansk, earlier said divers had been focusing efforts on cutting a new hole in the side of the submarine, near its seventh section.

"None of the recovered bodies is in the naval port of Severomorsk yet," the spokesman said.

He added that he had no further information about them.

The sinking of the Kursk was post-Soviet Russia's worst naval disaster.

For more than a week after it sank, the Russian nation sat glued to its television screens as the Russian navy repeatedly failed to link an escape capsule to the submarine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin faced a barrage of criticism for his hands-off handling of the crisis during its first days.

Officials initially said they had detected sailors tapping SOS messages on the hull, sparking hope that at least part of the crew was still alive.

But the discovery of water inside an escape hatch by Norwegian divers on August 21 killed off any last hopes that there were survivors on board.

By that time Navy officials had spent several days saying they thought the whole crew had died almost instantly.

- REUTERS

Herald Online feature: Russian sub disaster

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World Navies Today: Russian subs

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