Note testifies some seamen remained alive after explosions on Kursk

It was the first sign that anyone had survived the initial blasts that tore apart the submarine and sunk it in the Barents Sea. The note did not contain hints of what had caused the Aug. 12 catastrophe that killed all 118 men aboard. Russian Navy chief Adm. Vladimir Kuroyedov cited a note found in the pocket of a seaman identified only as Lt. D.R. Kolesnikov, ITAR-Tass said. "All the crew from the sixth, seventh and eighth compartments went over to the ninth. There are 23 people here. We made this decision as a result of the accident. None of us can get to the surface," Kuroyedov quoted the note as saying. The time 13:15 was written on the note, but no day or date was indicated. Foreign and Russian ships in the area registered two powerful explosions in the area around 11:30 local time on Aug. 12. The ninth compartment is where the emergency escape hatch is located. After the Kursk sank, Russian submersibles were unable to latch onto the hatch, but Norwegian divers who followed managed to open it a week after the tragedy _ and determined that there were no survivors. The note went on to mention the figures 13 and five, without explanation, and then added "I am writing blindly," Kuroyedov told families of the crew gathered in the northern Russian port of Murmansk. Many Russian officials had said that some crew members could have remained alive after the disaster, as indicated by reports of tapping sounds detected from the submarine in the first days.

But others discounted the reports as unsubstantiated and said the sounds could have been caused by collapsing equipment or the submarine settling into the seabed. The survivors of the initial explosions probably died of drowning, hypothermia or high pressure. Kolesnikov was the only seaman to have been identified so far, Kuroyedov said. Russian and Norwegian divers recovered the first bodies after five days of painstaking work to cut holes in the top of the submarine. Kuroyedov said that after the note was discovered, the divers were concentrating on searching for bodies in the ninth compartment. The complex underwater operation is being performed with leading-edge diving equipment, including robots and mechanical arms. Divers have used an instrument that sprays pressurized water mixed with diamond dust to cut the Kursk's 5-centimeter (2-inch) thick inner steel hull. Officials say that up to two-thirds of the crew were likely blown to bits by powerful explosions in the weapons room in the submarine's bow. Kuroyedov had warned that he might cancel the recovery effort if experts ruled that divers' life was in danger. Two widows of the Kursk crew members visited the Regalia on Wednesday and, on behalf of all the families, pleaded with the divers not to take excessive risks. But President Vladimir Putin promised to recover the bodies at an emotional meeting with the crew's relatives shortly after the disaster, and the government seemed bent on conducting the costly effort despite the shortage of funds for the military. Some Russian media have pointed out that by stubbornly conducting the risky effort the government wants to vindicate its confused response to the sinking of the Kursk, when it resisted foreign help for days while botching its own rescue efforts. The cause of the disaster remains unknown, with authorities pointing at a collision with a Western submarine, World War II-era mine or an internal malfunction as possible reasons.

(news.ch)