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Another blow for Russian navy
30/08/2003 17:49 - (SA)
Moscow - A Russian nuclear-powered submarine being towed to a scrapyard sank in a fierce storm in the Barents Sea Saturday, killing at least two of the 10-member crew in another blow to Russia's naval prestige and a grim reminder of the environmental risks posed by the deteriorating fleet.
The two nuclear reactors of the 40-year-old sub were shut down at the time the K-159 sank about 3 nautical miles (5.5km) northwest of Kildin Island just before it would have headed into the Kola Bay, said the Navy's deputy chief, Admiral Viktor Kravchenko.
Rescue ships of the Northern Fleet reached the accident site within an hour-and-half of the 04:00 accident, Kravchenko told Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov in a korning meeting, some of which was shown on Russian television.
One sailor was rescued, the bodies of two dead crew members were found and the fate of seven others were unknown, the Defence Ministry said.
The water in the area was about 10°Celsius, meaning a person could survive about 45 minutes in the water without protective gear, navy spokesperson Captain Igor Dygalo told the ITAR-Tass news agency.
No hope for survivors
"It appears that no hope remains that any of the members of the crew are still alive," Kravchenko was quoted as saying about 13 hours after the sinking by the news agency Interfax.
Kravchenko and Dygalo both said earlier the submarine's twin nuclear reactors posed no danger to the environment.
Kravchenko reported to Ivanov that measurements had shown that radiation levels in the area had remained normal. He told reporters that the sunken submarine would be lifted from the seabed for dismantling.
On August 28, a ship began towing the K-159 on four floating pontoons from its base in the town of Gremikha on the Kola Peninsula to a plant in the naval town of Polarnye for the nuclear fuel to be unloaded and for the vessel to be scrapped. The pontoons were ripped of the sub during a battering storm, and the submarine sank in waters 170m deep, Kravchenko said.
President Vladimir Putin was informed of the sinking while on the island of Sardinia for a three-day meeting with Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi.
The sinking "testifies to how the sea demands discipline, it does not forgive any kind of blunder or mistake", Putin said Saturday while conducting Berlusconi on a tour of a Russian missile cruiser anchored off Sardinia. "A thorough investigation will be conducted."
Kursk
The tour of the cruiser was a way for the Russian president to try to boost the prestige of the navy, whose image was badly damaged in the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk just over three years ago.
On August 12, 2000, an explosion shook the Kursk, one of the fleet's most advanced ships, during exercises, sending the vessel to the Barents Sea floor. All 118 men on board were killed, and the disaster shone light on the troubles of the cash-strapped Russian navy in the post-Soviet era.
In contrast to the Kursk sinking, when the government reacted slowly and failed to keep the public informed, the Defence Ministry quickly moved to confirm Saturday's accident.
Russia has decommissioned about 189 nuclear-powered submarines over the past 15 years but officials say 126 of those still are at docks with nuclear fuel in their reactors, creating international concern about leaks and the possibility of nuclear materials being obtained by other nations or terrorists.
It will cost an estimated $3.9bn to scrap all the subs, Russian officials say. Yet last year, the Russian government budgeted just $70m for improving nuclear safety in the country as a whole.
The K-159 had been decommissioned on July 16, 1989. The K-159 is a November class attack submarine that carries two nuclear reactors and 104 crew. Submarines of this class, the first generation of Russian nuclear subs, entered service in 1958-1963, according to Jane's Fighting Ships. The K-159 was designed to carry low-yield nuclear torpedoes.
A submarine of the same type, the K-8, caught fire and sank in April 1970 in the Bay of Biscay on its way home from naval manoeuvres, killing 52 people.
- AP
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