RUSSIA: A British rescue crew pulled off a dramatic deep-sea rescue yesterday to save the lives of seven Russian sailors trapped in their disabled submarine under the Pacific Ocean.
Operating a robotic submersible by radio control, the crew manoeuvred their craft to cut through fishing nets that had wrapped around the stricken vessel.
"Today was a very happy event. The intensive work to free our submarine at a depth of 200 metres brought results," said Admiral Viktor Fyodorov, commander of Russia's Pacific fleet.
The Russian crew had been trapped for 76 hours, and were down to their last 12 hours of oxygen when the rescue took place.
Compounding the ordeal for the Russian crew were the cold and semi-darkness, as they were ordered to shut down power to conserve battery supply.
Vyacheslav Milashevsky, the craft commander, managed to salute as he came ashore at the Patrovpavlovsk-Kamchatsky naval base on Russia's eastern Kamchatka Peninsula.
Asked how he felt, he said "fine" before joining a reception for his wife and relatives. Lieut Milashevsky's wife, Yelena, said: "I danced. I was glad, I cried and I danced for joy."
Russian defence minister Sergei Ivanov, in the Far East to supervise rescue operations, praised the cool heads of the trapped crew, calling them "heroes".
When the stricken vessel popped to the surface, the minister clenched his fist and shouted "great".
Later, he said: "I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our sailors . . . and all those who extended us the hand of friendship.
"In the first place, of course, this means the English people and Great Britain's navy, and also the United States navy and Japan's navy."
The British Scorpio craft was flown to the Far East from Scotland, then dropped into the sea above the stricken vessel from a Russian navy ship 30 miles off the coast.
From there, it dived 600 feet, using its powerful lights and TV cameras to illuminate a tangle of fishing nets that had become wrapped around the rear of the sub.
TV pictures showed the fishing net, apparently adrift, tightly wrapped around the propeller of the stubby little red and white Russian craft.
"We were conscious that the crew were running out of oxygen and that we could not afford any great delays in cutting them free," said British naval commander Jonty Powis, a specialist on submarine rescue who monitored the operation.
"We understand that the sailors are safe and well, and they had about 10 to 12 hours left in oxygen supply."
It took several hours for the Scorpio to slice through the netting, but rescuers were relieved to find there were no steel cables, as had earlier been feared.
"There were a lot of fishing nets which we had to cut away, but there were no steel cables, although some of it did look like steel," leader of the British rescue team Roger Chapman told the BBC.
With the netting cut, the Russian AS-28 mini-sub drifted to the surface and the crew unscrewed the hatch themselves.
Russia's president Vladimir Putin kept a low profile, avoiding making TV appearances during the three-day crisis.
But the Kremlin has ordered an inquiry into why Russia's own navy was unable to stage a rescue of its own.
These questions are likely to end up back at the Kremlin's doorstep, in particular over the issue of why, five years after the loss of 118 men aboard the Kursk submarine, Russia has failed to invest in deep-sea rescue equipment of its own.