US, UK come for Russian submarine rescue
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-06 20:14

U.S. and British planes carrying robotic undersea vehicles landed in Russia's Far East on Saturday to help rescue seven sailors trapped in a mini-submarine with a dwindling oxygen supply far below the Pacific Ocean. Authorities couldn't say exactly how much air remained, but a top Navy official Saturday said the supply should last until the end of the rescue.

Members of the U.S. Air Force 89th Aerial Port squadron unload the U.S. Navy Deep Drone 8000, a remotely operated salvage and diving vehicle, at Andrews Air Force Base Friday, Aug. 5, 2005 outside Washington. The unmanned U.S. Navy deep ocean recovery vehicle is being dispatched to Russia via U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane to rescue seven Russian sailors trapped with dwindling oxygen supplies 600 feet under the Pacific on a mini-submarine caught on an underwater antenna. [AP]

Authorities plan to use the unmanned American and British submersibles, known as Super Scorpios, to investigate the accident site and possibly cut the sub loose from entanglements that have held it some 625 feet below the surface since Thursday.

The plea for international assistance underlined the deficiencies of Russia's once-mighty navy and strongly contrasted with the sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk five years ago, when authorities held off asking for help until hope was nearly exhausted; all 118 crew died in that accident.

But even with Moscow's quick call for help, rescue workers were racing to free the men before the air ran out. The sailors were reported in "satisfactory" condition, though temperatures in the sub were in the low 40s.

Navy officials have given various estimates of the air supply, with some saying it could last until Monday. Rear Adm. Vladimir Pepelyayev, deputy head of the navy's general staff, said Saturday that the air would likely last to the end of the day and possibly through Sunday.

"I think it should be enough to last to the end of the (rescue) operation," he said.

Navy spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo said rescue efforts involving the U.S. and British equipment could begin around 5 a.m. local time Sunday (noon EDT), Russian news agencies reported.

But that estimate appeared to be optimistic. The American and British vehicles had not yet been loaded onto ships, which rescue operation spokesman Georgy Romanovich said would take five hours to reach Beryozovaya Bay, about 50 miles south of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the capital of this remote peninsular region that's north of Japan and west of Alaska's Aleutian Islands.

The Russian vessel, which had been participating in a combat training exercise, got caught Thursday on an underwater antenna assembly that's part of Russia's coastal monitoring system. The antenna system is anchored with a weight of about 60 tons, news reports say.

The Interfax news agency quoted Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Viktor Fyodorov as saying crews planned to try to blow up the anchoring system in an effort to free the vessel, but it was unclear how that would be done.

The cash-strapped Russian navy apparently has no rescue vehicles capable of operating at the depth where the sub is stranded. Its rescue efforts have focused on trying to grab and drag the sub with a trawling apparatus.

Dygalo earlier told The Associated Press that rescuers had managed to move the sub about 60 yards toward shore by hooking onto a part of the underwater antenna the sub was caught on, but reports said the hauling system then became unattached.

"We won't try to drag it anymore; we will try to lift the whole system, rip it off and bring it to the surface," Fyodorov said on NTV television. A Russian remote vehicle was transmitting pictures to help authorities monitor the process.

Fyodorov said rescuers made contact with the crew late Saturday (early Saturday EDT) and that their condition was "satisfactory" despite "low temperatures" of 41 to 45 degrees Fahrenheit in the vessel. It wasn't clear how contact was being made or why it was only intermittent.

The events and the array of confusing and contradictory statements darkly echoed the sinking of the Kursk. That disaster shocked Russians and deeply embarrassed the country by demonstrating how the once-mighty navy had deteriorated as funding dried up following the 1991 Soviet collapse.

The new crisis underlined that promises by President Vladimir Putin to improve the navy's equipment have apparently had little effect. Authorities initially said a mini-sub would be sent to try to aid the stranded one, but the navy later said the vehicle wasn't equipped to go that deep.

Putin was sharply criticized for his slow response to the Kursk crisis and reluctance to accept foreign assistance. By midday Saturday, Putin had made no public comment on the latest sinking, but Russian media said Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov left for Kamchatka after a Kremlin meeting of top security officials.

The airlifting of a U.S. underwater vehicle to Kamchatka marks the first time since the World War II era that a U.S. military plane has been allowed to fly there. Since Soviet times, the peninsula has housed several major submarine bases and numerous other military facilities, and large areas of it are off limits to outsiders.

After the Kursk disaster, Putin had called for serious improvements in the military's equipment and training, but little improvement has been noticed publicly. The navy reportedly ended its deep-sea diving training programs a decade ago due to funding shortages.

The trapped AS-28, which looks like a small submarine, was built in 1989. It is about 44 feet long and 5.7 meters 19 feet high and can dive to depths of 1,640 feet.

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