World News 22-08-2000 Crew Found Dead On Russian Submarine who: More than 100 Russian sailors what: Found dead by Norwegian divers where: Barents Sea when: Yesterday snippet: "Ten days of drama in the Arctic reached a grim climax," reports Ian Traynor in The Guardian, "when all 118 Russian crew who went down with the Kursk nuclear submarine in the Barents Sea on August 12 were declared dead." "All attempts to rescue the crew were abandoned after Norwegian divers found that the Russian nuclear submarine was completely flooded," says The Telegraph. "When the divers opened the emergency hatch, they discovered a body in murky water in the stern compartment, the section most likely to have contained air pockets". "Russia tried to pin blame on the Royal Navy," says The Express. "Even as British deep sea divers were risking their lives at a depth of 350 feet assisting them, the Russian navy said it had found a fragment of a foreign submarine - `most likely British` - close to the wreck of the Kursk". Meanwhile, in Russia, president Vladimir Putin has been damned attacked by Russian media for taking a holiday on the day the Kursk sank and not returning until the end of last week. Mr Putin`s defended his actions saying he had decided to leave it to the professionals. "But this argument is now in trouble," says Patrick Cockburn in The Independent, "because the rapid Norwegian success since Sunday morning shows the professionals did not know what they were doing". [... more]

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