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MOSCOW, Aug 30: A Russian nuclear-powered submarine sank in stormy Arctic seas on Saturday, killing nine servicemen, as it was being towed into port for scrapping, defence officials said.
The K-159 sank onto the seabed 170 metres down in the Barents Sea, but officials said the 40-year-old vessel’s nuclear reactors had been shut down in 1989 when it was decommissioned and they discounted an ecological threat.
An environmental pressure group, however, said water was likely to seep into the reactors and that radiation levels in the area would have to be watched closely.
In Italy, President Vladimir Putin, who suffered badly in the political fallout from the sinking of the Kursk nuclear submarine in the Barents three years ago when 118 servicemen were killed, vowed a thorough investigation.
Chief military prosecutor Alexander Savenkov told Russian TV First Channel the submarine’s captain, Sergei Zhemchuzhov, was being questioned about the incident, which took place in an early morning storm.
One officer was rescued alive from the crew of 10 on board when an accident occurred in the towing operation at about 4am. The bodies of two servicemen were recovered shortly after the incident.
NO ONE LEFT ALIVE: Navy chief-of-staff Viktor Kravchenko quashed chances of the seven missing sailors being found alive, given the heavy seas and a water temperature of 10 Celsius (50 Fahrenheit).
He said surface rescue ships, using special listening equipment, had failed to detect any signs of life on board.
“No signs could be heard. Obviously, there are no members of the crew left alive on board,” Kravchenko said, adding that relatives had been informed.
He said the K-159 — like the Kursk — would be raised.
“At the moment we are considering the various ways of raising (the submarine). We will definitely raise it so that it can be destroyed,” Kravchenko said in televised comments.—Reuters
