Contingency Plan Worked Out for Kursk Lifting OperationA contingency plan has been worked out and approved for possible emergencies during the lifting operation of the sunken Russian nuclear submarine Kursk, a high- ranking official close to the operation said Wednesday.Vyacheslav Zakharov, the head of the Russian bureau for the Dutch company Mammoet, which signed a contact with Russia on raising the Kursk, said that the contingency plan was figured out by a special group in charge of the safety of the operation. It involves representatives from Mammoet, the central naval design bureau Rubin and the Russian Navy, he said, adding that the group takes into account all possible dangers during the lifting process. Risks have been assessed not only by Russian and Dutch experts but also by "a representative group" from the British Royal Navy, who were engaged by Mammoet, he added. Speaking about the shares of responsibility for possible emergencies, Zakharov said the biggest share will be borne by Russia since the submarine and weapons aboard it are Russian properties. According to Zakharov, the support ship Mayo carrying Russian divers will leave the Scottish city of Aberdeen, where they are being trained, on Thursday evening or Friday morning for the sunk site of Kursk. The Mayo is expected to arrive at the scene in about a week's time. During this period, the group of Russian Navy divers and specialists will learn to handle the equipment aboard the ship. Zakharov said there were 16 people in the group, including medics and the interpreter. He also said the St. Petersburg-based Krylov Central Research Institute has finished the testing of Mammoet's cutting equipment to be used underwater to cut off the front section of the submarine and cut holes in its hull. Part of the equipment will be delivered to the site by a barge by July 16, he said. The ill-fated Kursk sank during training exercises in the Barents Sea on August 12, 2000, killing all 118 crew members on board. |
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