Trapped submarine crew running out of air

Crews struggled to save a Russian mini-submarine trapped yesterday in the remote Pacific with seven sailors on board and oxygen supplies dwindling, navy officials said.

How much oxygen remained was unclear.

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

However, he earlier told Russia's Channel One television that air would last "a little more than 24 hours".

Naval authorities were trying to figure out how to raise the vessel from the seabed where it got caught on a fishing net at a depth of some 190 metres, with only enough air on the craft to last another day, a navy spokesman said.

Nine Russian ships were at the site, and the United States and Britain were scrambling to send underwater vehicles that might assist in the rescue, officials said. Japanese ships also were rushing to the area.

However, it was unclear if there was enough oxygen aboard the small vessel designed for three crew members to keep seven sailors alive until help reaches the accident site.

"There is air remaining on the underwater apparatus for a day one day," Captain Igor Dygalo said on state-run Rossiya television. "The operation continues. We have a day and intensive, active measures will be taken to rescue the AS-28 vessel and the people aboard."

The vessel's propeller became entangled in a fishing net on Thursday, trapping the craft, Dygalo said.

The mini-submarine was trapped in Beryozovaya Bay, about 75kms south of Kamchatka's capital, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, an official with the military prosecutor's office in Russia's Far East said.

The vessel, which became disabled after it was launched from a ship in a combat training exercise, was too deep to allow the sailors to swim to the surface on their own or for divers to reach it, officials said. The sailors were in contact with authorities and were not hurt, Pacific Fleet spokesman Captain Alexander Kosolapov said in televised comments.

Authorities were preparing to send down a similar vessel to assess the situation, he said. But a navy spokesman in Moscow, Dmitry Burmistrov, later said authorities had not involved the second vessel because it was not equipped to go deep enough.

Two surface ships were sweeping the area with nets in the hope of wresting the trapped vessel from the sea floor, adding that the rescue effort would continue into the night, Dygalo said.

He told NTV television that authorities were working out a rescue plan but did not elaborate.

The United States was sending an unmanned underwater vehicle equipped with cameras, cable cutters and arm-like manipulators that might be capable of freeing the submarine, Lt Maria Miller, a US Navy spokeswoman, said in Washington.

Since Soviet times, the Kamchatka Peninsula has housed several major submarine bases and numerous other military facilities, and large areas of it have remained closed to outsiders.

Airlifting a US underwater vehicle to the area marks the first time since the Second World War era that a US military plane has been allowed to fly there.

LESSON LEARNED
Better rescue response than Kursk accident

The incident is a chilling reminder of the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine in August 2000 that killed all 118 crew members following an emergency response effort widely criticised as sluggish.

Some sailors survived for hours after the accident as oxygen ran out, and Russian authorities came under sharp criticism for their handling of the crisis. The response from officials yesterday was in stark contrast to that during the Kursk tragedy.

"The Fleet command took a decision to request assistance from Japanese colleagues in resolving the serious situation with the AS-28 submersible vehicle," Admiral Viktor Dmitriyev, commander of the Russian Pacific Fleet, was quoted by the Interfax-AVN military news agency as saying.

The AS-28, which looks like a small submarine, was built in 1989. It is about 13.5 metres long and 5.7 metres high and can dive to depths below 500 metres. A vessel of the same type was used in the rescue efforts that followed the Kursk disaster.

The mini-submarine was first put into commission in the late 1980s and the vessel trapped on the seabed was in need of repair, news agencies reported. The submarine was due to return to the factory for repairs in November, Konstantinovna said. Military prosecutors have opened an inquiry into the incident.

- Compiled from agencies