PDA

View Full Version : Russian sub sinks in Barents sea



Devildogg4ever
08-30-03, 05:08 AM
August 30, 2003

A Russian nuclear-powered submarine sank in a fierce storm in the Barents Sea on Saturday as it was being towed to a scrapyard, killing at least two of the 10-member crew in a further blow to Russia's naval prestige.

The sinking is a grim reminder of the environmental risks posed by Russia's ageing submarine fleet.

The two nuclear reactors of the 40-year-old sub were shut down at the time the K-159 sank about 4am local time about 3 nautical miles northwest of Kildin Island just before it would have headed into the Kola Bay, Admiral Viktor Kravchenko, deputy chief of the navy told Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov, in remarks carried on state television.

Rescue ships of the Northern Fleet reached the accident site within an hour in heavy rain. 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 Barents Sea was about 10C where the K-159 sank, meaning a person could survive about 45 minutes in the water without protective gear, Capt Igor Dygalo told the ITAR-Tass news agency.

Kravchenko later said that chances of finding more sailors alive were low, the NTV television channel reported.

There was no danger of any environmental impact from the sunken sub, Dygalo said.

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, the ministry confirmed.

The Kremlin press service said that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was in Sardinia for meetings with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, had been informed of the sinking. However, there was no immediate reaction from the Russian leader.

Saturday's sinking was the latest incident involving Russian nuclear submarines.

On August 12, 2000, an explosion shook the Kursk nuclear submarine during exercises, sending the vessel to the Barents Sea floor.

All 118 men on board were killed, and that tragedy shed light on the troubles of the cash-strapped Russian navy in the post-Soviet era.

Unlike during the Kursk tragedy, when the Government failed to keep the public informed and reacted slowly to the tragedy, the Defence Ministry quickly moved to confirm this sinking, apparently in part to avoid the public relations disaster of the Kursk.

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 transferred to other nations or terrorists.

It will cost $3.9 billion to scrap all the subs, Russian officials say. Yet last year, the Russian government budgeted just $70 million for improving nuclear safety in the country as a whole.


http://www.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,7114242%255E2,00.html