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#7
Russia's Kursk sub to yield up dead, clues
October 23, 2001
By Clara Ferreira-Marques

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Investigators boarded Russia's Kursk nuclear submarine Tuesday for the first time since it sank, but while yielding up its dead the wreck may fail to fully explain what destroyed the vessel, officials said.

Forty military investigators and forensic experts, led by Prosecutor-General Vladimir Ustinov, began an inspection of the vessel that mysteriously exploded and sank in August last year, a navy spokesman said.

The mangled hulk of the Kursk was brought into the Arctic port of Roslyakovo near Murmansk Sunday and work was to begin to recover the crew's remains once it had been drained.

"The analyses that we are going to carry out on the boat today will give us ... 70-80 percent of the answer to the question" of what sank the Kursk, Ustinov told a news conference shown in part on Russian television.

"The final answer will be received after the first section is raised," he said. The bow, ravaged by two explosions, was sawn off before this month's unprecedented international lifting operation. It is due to be recovered next year.

Navy commander Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov said experts hoped the Kursk's equipment would hold some clues. "The boat has recording devices and if they still exist they will be key to many questions," he told the same news conference.

The loss of the Kursk, the pride of Russia's ailing fleet, shocked the nation and sparked fierce criticism of President Vladimir Putin's failure to immediately break off his holiday to take charge of the crisis.

The furor stung Putin into a pledge to raise the Kursk whatever the cost so that the remains of its 118-member crew could be returned to their families for burial.

Twelve bodies were pulled from the Barents Sea last year, but it was unclear how many salvagers could expect to find in the wreck after 14 months submerged in icy waters.

RADIATION CHECK, MISSILE MENACE

Radiation specialists were due to enter the submarine's hull to examine the nuclear reactors, Itar-Tass said, quoting a Northern Fleet spokesman.

They will monitor radiation levels as water is pumped from the hull -- a vital task as falling temperatures could soon freeze the water inside.

The Kursk sat in about 8 feet of water Tuesday, with just the ship's conning tower visible, after being towed into Roslyakovo by barge.

The operation has raised numerous safety questions, among them the draining of liquid nuclear fuel from the Kursk's shut-down reactors -- an unprecedented operation on a "dead" submarine in dry dock.

Military experts quoted by Izvestia newspaper said 22 cruise missiles still on board the Kursk posed another serious threat.

Northern Fleet commander Admiral Vyacheslav Popov told the paper that unless the missiles were in pristine condition, their extraction would have to be carried out with utmost care.

"Dismantling these weapons is always potentially hazardous work," Popov was quoted as saying.

The departure of the Giant 4 barge which hoisted the Kursk concluded the participation of Dutch contractor Mammoet in an operation expected to cost around $130 million.

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