World News 18-08-2000 Damage To Russian Sub Revealed who: More than 100 Russian sailors what: Conditions revealed by video of damage where: Barents Sea when: Yesterday snippet: "Up to 70 Russian sailors may have been killed when massive explosions tore through the stricken submarine Kursk," says The Sun. The damage to the sub, revealed in video footage released by the Russian military yesterday, was far greater than originally estimated. "It is believed the sub sank instantly after a torpedo exploded aboard setting off a second devastating blast," continues The Sun`s Neil Syson. "Film taken by Russian rescuers has shown the Kursk is damaged from its front end all the way down to its fin." "As hopes faded of bringing out any of the 118 crewmen alive," writes Ian Traynor in The Guardian, "the defence minister, Igor Sergeyev, revived the first theory advanced for the cause of the disaster - a collision with another vessel." "The scenario in which the Kursk submarine suffered a collision with another object is now the main one," he said yesterday. "Irrefutable data is already available." The British LR5 submersible rescue team, piloted by 45 year-old Tom Heron, will be "facing seemingly impossible obstacles" when they arrive at the crash site in the Barents Sea tomorrow, says Michael Smith, The Telegraph`s Defence Correspondent. "The LR5 is designed to hover over the escape hatch while the mating skirt is placed over it and all the water driven out, to produce a watertight seal," explains Smith. But the LR5 is designed to operate in currents of around 1.5 knots and the waters around the Kursk are reportedly about 2.5 knots. The speed may make it impossible for the rescue submersible to hover by the escape hatch long enough to hold on. [... more]

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