Rescuers examine crippled sub

9:00 AM

MOSCOW - Russian naval teams have examined a crippled nuclear-powered submarine with more than 100 sailors aboard, lying at the bottom of the sea in the Arctic circle.

The submarine Kursk has been on the bottom since Sunday when its crew was forced to turn off the nuclear reactor and let their vessel drift to the bed of the Barents Sea.

The Kursk is one of the most modern Russian submarines, classed as Antyei by the Russians and Oscar-2 by Nato.

Officials on Monday gave conflicting signals over the chances of saving the crew or recovering the craft as rescuers in miniature submarines circled the crippled vessel.

Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, who heads the rescue operation, made it clear he was not hopeful.

"The chances for a positive outcome are not very high," the news agency Tass quoted him as saying. Kuroyedov did not specify whether he meant the fate of the submarine or its crew.

But other officials sounded upbeat and one said the question of abandoning the submarine had not been raised.

One of the primary tasks on Monday appeared to be to get oxygen and power supplies to the trapped crew.

Tass said small rescue submarines circling the Kursk had found it damaged but sitting straight on the seabed.

"The situation is serious, but according to the command of the Northern Fleet its rescue teams have enough resources to deal with the issue without turning to others for help," Tass quoted the fleet's command as saying.

The navy, which reported the accident only on Monday, said initially it had been caused by an unspecified technical hitch. But officials said later the submarine was damaged, possibly in collision with a foreign submarine.

A correspondent for NTV television, in a report conflicting with that of Tass, said from naval headquarters in Moscow that the submarine was lying on its side.

He added that rescuers had been able to exchange coded signals with the crew through the body of the vessel.

NTV quoted the navy command as saying there were 116 officers and sailors on board. Earlier reports said there could be anything between 107 and 130 people on board. The crippled Kursk is commanded by 45-year-old Gennady Lyachin.

Interfax news agency quoted a source in the Northern Fleet command, as saying it was "not excluded" that there were casualties.

But the duty officer at the fleet's command sounded upbeat.

"Decisions are now being made on how to rescue people and the chances that they are alive are very good," he said by telephone from the Arctic base of Severomorsk.

Interfax quoted the Northern Fleet as saying rescue teams were busy fixing a set of special equipment, known as Kolokol (Bell), to the hull of Kursk, which would help restore power and air supply to the submarine. Kolokol can also be used to help the crew escape through rescue hatches.

ORT public television said experts feared that the hatches may have been damaged in the accident.

The news agencies quoted navy officials as saying a final decision on how to proceed with the rescue operation may be made on Monday night or early on Tuesday after a thorough inspection.

The Defence Ministry of Norway, which also borders the Barents, says the submarine lies in international waters northeast of Murmansk at a depth of around 150 metres.

The independent AVN military news agency, which has good sources in defence circles, said it was told by the Northern Fleet the submarine was 137 km from Severomorsk.

The accident happened when the Kursk was on major training exercises in the Barents Sea, which lies mostly in the Arctic Circle north of European Russia.

Russian navy officials said they were investigating several possible reasons of the accident.

"A spokesman for the navy's general staff said that one of the possibilities was that the accident had been caused by collision with a foreign submarine," Tass reported.

"A source in the Northern Fleet command said he believed this was the key version. He did not rule out that the foreign submarine was also damaged and was now not far from the Kursk."

Russian and US submarines traditionally play cat-and-mouse in the area. In 1993, a Russian Delta-3 class nuclear-powered submarine collided with the US submarine Grayling in the Barents but both vessels were able to return to base.

A US Navy spokeswoman said that the US navy ship Loyal, which gathers underwater acoustical data, was about 250 miles away from the Russian submarine when it went down. The ship was there by coincidence and had nothing to do with the Russian submarine or subsequent rescue efforts.

The Kursk can carry 24 Shipwreck underwater-to-surface guided missiles and heavy water torpedoes. But the navy's press office head, Igor Dygalo, said the submarine, built in 1994, had no nuclear weapons aboard.

He also said there were no radiation leaks.

- REUTERS