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Time running out for submarine crew

Vladimir Radyuhin

Seamen have enough air to survive one day

MOSCOW: Time is running out for the seven crew of a Russian mini-submarine trapped on the seabed off Russia's far eastern coast.

The military mini-submarine was on a training mission on Thursday when its propeller got tangled in fishing nets 75 km off the Kamchatka Peninsula and sank to seabed 190 metres down, a spokesman for the Russian Navy said.

Spokesman Igor Dygalo told the Russian television that the seamen had enough air to survive one more day, approximately till 14:00 Moscow time on Saturday.

The rescue operation would require a second mini-submarine similar to the one trapped on the seabed, but it was not clear whether Russia had such a vessel in the vicinity.

Japan is sending four rescue ships to Kamchatka, but they will only reach the place on Monday. The U.S. has offered to send an unmanned mini-sub, Scorpio, by air from the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean and it would take more than 12 hours to bring the sub to Kamchatka.

The 13.5-metre long mini-submarine, codenamed AS-28, is used for rescue, surveillance and intelligence-gathering purposes, and can operate at depths of up to 1,000 metres.

The accident has brought back painful memories of the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine in August 2000 that killed all 118 crew members. Ironically, an AS-28 mini-sub was used in the rescue efforts that followed the Kursk disaster.

AP reports:

Pacific Fleet Commander Adm. Viktor Fyodorov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying the oxygen supply would last until sometime Monday.

He earlier told Russia's Channel One television that air would last ``a little more than 24 hours.''

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