Trapped Russian mini-sub resurfaces in Pacific

MOSCOW - A Russian mini-submarine burst to the surface after rescuers hacked away the cables that had snared it deep in Pacific waters and saved the crew before their air supply ran out.


"The mini-sub has surfaced. The seven submariners on board are alive," naval spokesman Igor Dygalo was quoted by Interfax as saying.


A naval officer had warned they might only have Sunday left to rescue the men stuck on board the AS-28, which was snarled up in heavy metal debris 190 metres below the surface, because of dwindling oxygen.


The British Scorpio, an unmanned undersea rescue vehicle rushed at Moscow's request to waters off the far east Kamchatka peninsula, was briefly forced to return to the surface but got back to work to clear remaining debris.


"We are in constant contact with the crew through acoustic signals, and according to them, their health condition is satisfactory," Interfax quoted the head of Russia's Pacific Fleet press service, Alexander Kosolapov as saying earlier.


The AS-28, itself a rescue vessel, got its propeller tangled in metal cords from the antenna of an electronic underwater monitoring station -- part of Russia's coastal defences -- during military exercises.


The accident, which happened on Thursday but only came to light the following day, has stirred up sore memories of a botched attempt to save a Russian nuclear submarine five years ago.


The Kursk sank in the Barents Sea in August 2000 after two huge underwater explosions and all 118 crew perished in a drama that traumatised Russia.


President Vladimir Putin was criticised for failing to break off a holiday on the Black Sea while rescuers battled in Arctic waters to reach the doomed crew.


This time round, Putin has so far stayed silent. But in a sign of Kremlin concern, he dispatched Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov to Kamchatka to take charge of the rescue operation.


Rear Admiral Vladimir Pepelyaev had told Russian television the crew were keeping their spirits up. But he said oxygen was running out: "Given the supplies of air, the rescue operation must be ended by the end of the next 24 hours."


The structure enmeshing the vessel was itself weighted down on the ocean floor by two heavy anchors. A previous attempt on Saturday to drag the mini-sub to shallow waters failed.


The coastal waters off Russia's far east have highly sensitive installations and there were suggestions the Russian military was far from keen to allow foreign navies to come so close to such a strategic area.


"This area is stuffed with secrets," Interfax news agency quoted retired Admiral Eduard Baltin, former Black Sea Fleet commander, as saying. "It is home to strategic nuclear submarines."


- REUTERS