MURMANSK (Russia) Oct 26: Investigators pulled eight more bodies out of the Kursk submarine overnight, bringing to 11 the number recovered since the wreck was placed in dry dock early this week, officials said on Friday.

All of the bodies were recovered from the rear ninth compartment, which has now been completely cleared, Leonid Troshin, a spokesman for the Russian state prosecutor, said.

Investigators, making their first inspections of the 18,000-tonne hulk since it was raised from the bottom of the Barents Sea on October 8, have also managed to enter the sixth section next to the chamber where the submarine’s two nuclear reactors are housed, Troshin said.

The level of radioactivity there was normal, he said.

The Kursk sank on August 12 last year following two as yet unexplained explosions in the forward section.

All 118 crew members died in the disaster. Twelve bodies were recovered in an underwater operation last November.

The wrecked sub, minus the front section that was cut off for security reasons, was raised in an international salvage operation that lasted three months and cost some 65 million dollars (73 million euros).

The investigators, wearing oxygen masks and cloaked in heavy suits to protect them from poisonous gases and possible radiation, entered the vessel for the first time on Wednesday.

They are looking for evidence that will explain the cause of the disaster.—AFP