World News 27-10-2000 Doomed Submariner`s Note From The Kursk who: 23 Russian sailors what: Survived the explosions on the Kursk, letter reveals where: Barents Sea when: Yesterday snippet: "At least 23 men survived the blasts which sank Russia`s nuclear sub Kursk, before they died trapped," reports The Mirror as divers in the Barents Sea discover a poignant note written by one of the survivors. The Russian submarine suffered two mysterious explosions on 12th August and sank to the sea bed 355ft below. The Russian military was strongly criticised for failing to rush foreign diving experts to the rescue scene, despite numerous offers, and by the time a Norwegian team opened the escape hatch, all 118 men had perished. "In pitch-black darkness sometime after the explosions which sent the Kursk to the bottom of the ocean, Lieutenant-Captain Dmitri Kolesnikov realised that he was not going to survive," writes Amelia Gentleman in The Guardian. "As he waited to die, he wrote a careful account of what had happened in the submarine, apparently for the benefit of naval officials. Then he turned over the piece of paper and composed a goodbye letter to his wife Olga". "All the crew from the sixth, seventh and eighth compartments went over to the ninth," wrote Kolesnikov blindly, probably about two hours after the explosions. "There are 23 people here. We made this decision as a result of the accident. None of us can get to the surface". The letter to his wife has not been published. "The note is of a very private nature and will be passed on to his relatives," said Admiral Motsak, chief of staff of Russia`s northern fleet, "but it also gave us a lot of operational information". [... more]

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