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Divers Penetrate Third Compartment of Sunken Russian Submarine
After cutting a hole in the outer hull of the sunken Russian nuclear submarine Kursk, the divers are removing the reinforcements from the space between the outer and inner walls, the Russian military said Wednesday.
The operation on the third compartment of the Kursk will continue till the end of the day and another 36 hours will have to be spent on cutting a hole in the inner reinforced hull, the press service of the Russian Northern Fleet said.
The operation on the eighth and ninth compartments was called off Tuesday as further operations in that part of the submarine would be dangerous for the divers, the military said.
The remains of 24 sailors are expected to be found in the third compartment. A diving bell used to lift the sailors to the surface in case of an accident is also in this compartment.
Commander of the Northern Fleet Vyacheslav Popov has arrived in St. Petersburg to attend the funeral of one of the sailors found inside the Kursk, Dmitri Kolesnikov, the press service said.
A total of 12 bodies have been recovered from the sunken submarine, four of whom have been identified and eight brought to the forensic medical laboratory in Severomorsk, north Russia.
The military released the name of one sailor, Dmitri Kolesnikov, while the names of the other three identified have been given only to their relatives.
The weather in the Barents Sea, where the submarine sank with 118 crewmen aboard during a navy drill on August 12, is good enough for the divers to continue their operation.
The situation in the third compartment fully meets the security norm for deep-sea operations, said North Fleet spokesman Igor Dygalo.
After a technological opening was made in the solid hull of the section, the third compartment will be examined by means of television cameras and then the plan for further operation will be decided, he said.
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