Rescuers rush to stricken sub
2005-08-06 09:02
Vladivostok - Rescuers struggled to save the seven-member crew of a Russian mini-submarine trapped far under the Pacific Ocean on Saturday, as oxygen supplies dwindled and the United States and Britain rushed deep-sea rescue vehicles to the scene.
The commander of the Russian Pacific Fleet, Admiral Viktor
Fyodorov, said rescuers were hoping to move the AS-28 naval sub
into shallower waters off the Kamchatka Peninsula and send divers
down to the crewmen who have been trapped for two days at a depth
of 190m.
With Russia naval officials making a swift request for help,
Britain and the United States dispatched military planes carrying
sophisticated unmanned underwater rescue vehicles to Russia's Far East late Friday. Both could reach the site within time - if earlier estimates that there was enough oxygen to keep the seven alive for 24 hours held true.
Fyodorov said early on Saturday that there was oxygen for "at least 18 hours," a distinctly less optimistic statement than his earlier assertion that air would last into Monday. Later on Saturday, however, news agencies quoted him as saying there was air for "more than 24 hours."
Situation 'not simple'
"The situation is not simple. I don't want to overdramatise the
situation, but also at the same time, I don't want to say it is
absolutely, so to speak, easy and momentarily resolvable," Fyodorov said in comments televised on NTV.
Navy spokesperson Captain Igor Dygalo told The Associated Press that rescuers had managed to move the sub about 60m toward
shore. Fyodotov, however, was quoted by Russian news agencies as
saying that the process was taking too long and rescuers were now
trying to attach a towline.
Initial reports said the sub had become ensnared in a fishing
net, but officials later said it had become caught on an underwater antenna. Dygalo described the antenna as a "Pacific Fleet coastal infrastructure object."
The confusing and contradictory statements darkly echoed the
sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk and the deaths of 118
sailors almost exactly five years ago.
The new crisis underlined that promises by President Vladimir
Putin to improve the navy's equipment have apparently had little effect.
Putin was sharply criticised for his slow response to the Kursk
crisis and reluctance to accept foreign assistance. By early
Saturday, Putin had made no public comment on the latest sinking.
Airlifting a United States underwater vehicle to the area marks the first time since the World War II era that a US military plane has been allowed to fly there.
The sailors were in contact with authorities and were not hurt,
naval officials said.
The trapped AS-28, which looks like a small submarine, was built in 1989. It is about 13.5m long and 5.7m high and can dive to depths below 500m.
- AP