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- Apr 6, 2002
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I sincerely hope that they can rescue these guys. I never could imagine how it must feel to be down in a submarine. I get claustrophobic just thinking about it. Those sailors must be thinking that the submarine is some sort of an evil, torture chamber by now. The Russians have had terrible experiences with submarines in the past. I hope this time will be different and these men will live to see sunlight again. If you pray, please pray for them.
Crews Attempt to Lift Submarine
PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, Russia Russian crews looped cables under an underwater antenna snaring a mini-submarine on the Pacific (search) floor Saturday and would try to lift them closer to the surface before air ran out for seven trapped sailors, a navy spokesman said.
Capt. Igor Dygalo (search) described the rescue effort as U.S. and British crews with robotic undersea vehicles raced to reach the site of the accident off the remote Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East.
Authorities could not say exactly how much air remained on the mini-sub, which was some 625 feet below the surface, but an admiral said Saturday the supply should last until the end of the rescue.
Dygalo said two ships had worked a cable beneath the sub entangled in an underwater antenna assembly that is part of Russia's (search) coastal monitoring system. Officials initially said the sub's propeller was snarled by a fishing net as it participated in military exercises Thursday.
Dygalo said rescuers hoped to raise the sub to a depth of at least 165 feet, which would allow divers to reach the 44-foot-long AS-28 and help the crew swim to the surface.
Rescuers made contact with the crew Saturday evening and said their condition was "satisfactory" despite temperatures of 41 to 45 degrees in their vessel, Russia's Pacific Fleet commander, Adm. Viktor Fyodorov, said.
It wasn't clear how contact was being made or why it was only intermittent.
"I assure you, work is continuing without interruption through night and day and will not stop until we actually lift our guys up to the surface," Fyodorov said in televised comments.
U.S. and British planes flew in unmanned submersibles, known as Super Scorpios, on Saturday. They were being taken by ship to the accident site and could be used to cut the sub loose from the entangling equipment if the Russian effort to lift the vessel failed. Russian news reports said the antenna array was held down by two concrete anchors weighing 60 tons.
The plea for international assistance underlined the deficiencies of Russia's once-mighty navy and strongly contrasted with the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk five years ago, when authorities held off asking for help until hope was nearly exhausted. All 118 crew died in that accident.
But even with Moscow's quick call for help, rescue workers were racing to free the men before their oxygen ran out.
Navy officials gave varying estimates of the air supply. Rear Adm. Vladimir Pepelyayev, deputy head of the navy's general staff, said Saturday the air would likely last to the end of the day and possibly through Sunday. Fyodorov gave a similar estimate, but later was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying there was enough to last until Monday.
"I think it should be enough to last to the end of the (rescue) operation," Pepelyayev said.
Fyodorov said a ship with the British equipment and rescuers should arrive at the site by 9 a.m. local time Sunday (4 p.m. EDT Saturday), Interfax reported.
The cash-strapped Russian navy apparently has no rescue vehicles capable of operating at the depth where the sub is stranded. Its rescue efforts have focused on trying to grab and drag the sub to shallower water using trawling gear.
The array of confusing and contradictory statements darkly echoed the sinking of the Kursk. That disaster shocked Russians and deeply embarrassed the country by demonstrating how the once-mighty navy had deteriorated as funding dried up following the 1991 Soviet collapse.
The new crisis underlined that promises by President Vladimir Putin to improve the navy's equipment have apparently had little effect. Authorities initially said a mini-sub would be sent to try to aid the stranded one, but the navy later said the vehicle wasn't equipped to go that deep.
Putin was sharply criticized for his slow response to the Kursk crisis and reluctance to accept foreign assistance. By midday Saturday, Putin had made no public comment on the latest sinking, but Russian media said Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov left for Kamchatka after a Kremlin meeting of top security officials.
The airlifting of a U.S. underwater vehicle to Kamchatka marks the first time since World War II that a U.S. military plane has been allowed to fly there. Since Soviet times, the peninsula has housed several major submarine bases and numerous other military facilities, and large areas of it are off limits to outsiders.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,164928,00.html
Crews Attempt to Lift Submarine
PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, Russia Russian crews looped cables under an underwater antenna snaring a mini-submarine on the Pacific (search) floor Saturday and would try to lift them closer to the surface before air ran out for seven trapped sailors, a navy spokesman said.
Capt. Igor Dygalo (search) described the rescue effort as U.S. and British crews with robotic undersea vehicles raced to reach the site of the accident off the remote Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East.
Authorities could not say exactly how much air remained on the mini-sub, which was some 625 feet below the surface, but an admiral said Saturday the supply should last until the end of the rescue.
Dygalo said two ships had worked a cable beneath the sub entangled in an underwater antenna assembly that is part of Russia's (search) coastal monitoring system. Officials initially said the sub's propeller was snarled by a fishing net as it participated in military exercises Thursday.
Dygalo said rescuers hoped to raise the sub to a depth of at least 165 feet, which would allow divers to reach the 44-foot-long AS-28 and help the crew swim to the surface.
Rescuers made contact with the crew Saturday evening and said their condition was "satisfactory" despite temperatures of 41 to 45 degrees in their vessel, Russia's Pacific Fleet commander, Adm. Viktor Fyodorov, said.
It wasn't clear how contact was being made or why it was only intermittent.
"I assure you, work is continuing without interruption through night and day and will not stop until we actually lift our guys up to the surface," Fyodorov said in televised comments.
U.S. and British planes flew in unmanned submersibles, known as Super Scorpios, on Saturday. They were being taken by ship to the accident site and could be used to cut the sub loose from the entangling equipment if the Russian effort to lift the vessel failed. Russian news reports said the antenna array was held down by two concrete anchors weighing 60 tons.
The plea for international assistance underlined the deficiencies of Russia's once-mighty navy and strongly contrasted with the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk five years ago, when authorities held off asking for help until hope was nearly exhausted. All 118 crew died in that accident.
But even with Moscow's quick call for help, rescue workers were racing to free the men before their oxygen ran out.
Navy officials gave varying estimates of the air supply. Rear Adm. Vladimir Pepelyayev, deputy head of the navy's general staff, said Saturday the air would likely last to the end of the day and possibly through Sunday. Fyodorov gave a similar estimate, but later was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying there was enough to last until Monday.
"I think it should be enough to last to the end of the (rescue) operation," Pepelyayev said.
Fyodorov said a ship with the British equipment and rescuers should arrive at the site by 9 a.m. local time Sunday (4 p.m. EDT Saturday), Interfax reported.
The cash-strapped Russian navy apparently has no rescue vehicles capable of operating at the depth where the sub is stranded. Its rescue efforts have focused on trying to grab and drag the sub to shallower water using trawling gear.
The array of confusing and contradictory statements darkly echoed the sinking of the Kursk. That disaster shocked Russians and deeply embarrassed the country by demonstrating how the once-mighty navy had deteriorated as funding dried up following the 1991 Soviet collapse.
The new crisis underlined that promises by President Vladimir Putin to improve the navy's equipment have apparently had little effect. Authorities initially said a mini-sub would be sent to try to aid the stranded one, but the navy later said the vehicle wasn't equipped to go that deep.
Putin was sharply criticized for his slow response to the Kursk crisis and reluctance to accept foreign assistance. By midday Saturday, Putin had made no public comment on the latest sinking, but Russian media said Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov left for Kamchatka after a Kremlin meeting of top security officials.
The airlifting of a U.S. underwater vehicle to Kamchatka marks the first time since World War II that a U.S. military plane has been allowed to fly there. Since Soviet times, the peninsula has housed several major submarine bases and numerous other military facilities, and large areas of it are off limits to outsiders.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,164928,00.html
