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Russia Starts Third Attempt to Rescue Stricken Sub
After two failures, rescuers launched a third attempt Wednesday morning to reach the 116 sailors trapped in a Russian nuclear submarine on the bed of the Barents Sea.
Bad weather on the surface and poor visibility at depth frustrated two earlier attempts to dock a rescue capsule with the stricken sub. But navy commander Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov said he was more optimistic about the third try.
Meanwhile, with the crew thought to have just 48 hours of oxygen left, Russian navy officials were due to meet their NATO counterparts in Brussels Wednesday to consider accepting western help.
Navy officials said that at least two rescue capsules, capable of evacuating up to 20 people at a time, were involved in the latest attempt to rescue the crew launched at 0400 GMT.
``The capsules will work until the result is achieved,'' Itar-Tass news agency quoted Kuroyedov as saying.
``Now I feel far more confidence that the operation to rescue the Kursk crew will produce a result,'' said the commander.
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