There definitely were some alive after the explosion as they were heard banging until yesterday (Wed) morning. Nothing since then. You have to think the carbon monoxide poisoning is taking its toll.
The Russians didn’t rescue the last sub they lost in the same region. That ones still spilling out nuclear matter from its engines with the result that radioactive levels in the Baring Sea – a much fished and very important resource – are approximately double the recognised safety level. Not doing anything about this similarly powered sub will eventually make much of that Sea un-fishable. And, of course, fish do swim elsewhere. Not nice.
As an aside, given this is an unprecedented request by the Russian military, I wonder where the Brits in the mini sub will be hiding their mini camera’s. You can be sure they’re briefed to check and photo anything and everything. Gruesome reality.
It’s now five days (it went down Saturday but the local Commander’s didn’t want to pass the news up the chain), looking very, very bleak. God help them.
" . . . they were heard banging until yesterday (Wed) morning."
Mixed messages. It seems the Russian Navy is giving out contradictory stories. I’ve also heard official reports that they’ve never heard ANY signs of life from the sub.
Some further developments (from Sky News and the BBC):
[ul]
[li]The Royal Navy submersible should be able to dock with the Kursk. Even though the main escape hatch is damaged beyond use, there’s another hatch they can try. The LR5 submersible has been tested with similar Polish designs for compatibility.[/li][li]The Royal Navy also say that, based on what they’ve seen, the damage was almost certainly caused by an explosion (given the toughness of Russian sub design). The story about a torpedo detonating in the tube sounds more likely now.[/li][li]Conflicting reports now say that the sub crew may have enough oxygen to last until 25 August.[/li][/ul]
Fingers crossed.
I’ve got a question. Say it WAS a torpedo that went boom inside the sub. The resulting explosion would obviously rip open some portion of the hull and kill/injure nearby crewmembers.
But what about crewmembers that were out of range of the initial fire/shrapnel blast zone? Discounting the possibility of a sealed door (… “bulkhead”? Forgive me, I’m just a landlubber…) isolating the blast from the netherreaches of the ship, would such a powerful, contained airblast injure or kill others? Or at least pop some eardrums?
“Conflicting reports now say that the sub crew may have enough oxygen to last until 25 August.”
Are these figures based on the assumption that the whole crew is alive I wonder? If there were only a dozen people down in that sub that survived the explosion and sinking, how long would these poor souls have to wait before the end? What a horrible situation.