Russia mourns sub disater

2003-08-31 11:16

Severomorsk, Russia - Russian authorities declared a day of mourning on Sunday following the sinking of a nuclear submarine that left nine seamen dead and revived bitter memories of the Kursk disaster three years ago.

Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov ordered the day of mourning in the Northern Fleet and sailed to the site in the Barents Sea where a K-159 nuclear submarine sank early on Saturday while being towed to a shipyard for scrapping, a spokesperson for the fleet said.

The governor of the Murmansk region where the Northern Fleet is based also declared a day of mourning in his region.

The wreck of the submarine has been located on the seabed at a depth of 238 metres, the Interfax news agency quoted Ivanov as saying.

The minister, speaking aboard the cruiser Marshal Ustinov, quoted searchers as saying that "the submarine is lying horizontally with a three-degree list to starboard, and its conning-tower hatch is open," the news agency said.

He said they would continue their work "to help prepare an operation to raise the submarine and the seven crewmembers who are most probably inside."

No change has been observed in the levels of radiation in the waters in the vicinity, Ivanov added.

Defence ministry officials in Moscow said the 40-year-old submarine's nuclear reactor had been shut down in 1989 when the sub was decommissioned, that the sub was not carrying any weapons and that there was no danger of pollution.

Only one of the 10 crewmembers survived the sinking. Two bodies have been recovered and seven other men are missing presumed dead.

The wreck occurred in the early hours of Saturday after high seas caused one of the towing pontoons to break away, destabilising the submarine.

Ivanov was accompanied by the commander of the Russian navy Vladimir Kuroyedov at the site of the wreck where the weather was reported to be foggy, Northern Fleet spokesperson Igor Babenko said.

The accident was a bitter reminder of the tragedy of the Kursk nuclear submarine which sank in the Barents Sea on August 12, 2000, after a fuel leak from a torpedo caused an explosion. All 188 crew on board perished.

Ivanov was ordered to the region by President Vladimir Putin, who was strongly criticised during the Kursk disaster for the sluggish response of the government and naval authorities and the secrecy in which the affair was shrouded.

Putin, who is on holiday in Sardinia as the guest of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, has promised a "thorough investigation" into the sinking.

Ivanov late on Saturday suspended the naval captain who was in charge of towing the K-159 to the shipyard at Polyarni, on the Kola peninsula.

He said financial assistance would be offered to the families of the dead.

- AFP