Letter in sub shows Kursk sailors died slow death

"The note is of a very private nature and will be passed on to his relatives, but it also gave us a lot of operational information," he told reporters in the northern naval port of Severomorsk. Excerpts of the note, quoted by Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency, made chilling reading. "I am writing blind," wrote the sailor, Lieutenant-Captain Dmitry Kolesnikov.

"It’s 13:15. All personnel from sections six, seven and eight have moved to section nine. There are 23 people here. We have made the decision because none of us can escape."

Published crew lists show there were 24 men assigned to sections six to nine of the Kursk, an attack submarine which was taking part in exercises in the Barents Sea.

"The note was written in the period from 13:34 to 15:15 on August 12, that is the day of the accident," said Motsak. He did not explain the apparent discrepancy with the time, 13:15, recorded by Kolesnikov.

The discovery by divers casts fresh doubt on official versions of the sinking of the Kursk, post-Soviet Russia’s worst naval disaster. Official reports said the navy did not lose contact with the submarine until 11:30 pm on that evening, hours after Motsak said Kolesnikov finished writing.

The Russian navy only announced it had lost contact with the submarine two days after the accident, initially saying the Kursk had technical faults and the crew were fine.

The cause of the accident is still unknown, although the commander-in-chief of the navy, Vladimir Kuroyedov, has said he is 80 percent certain it was due to a collision with another submarine.

Motsak said some sailors had tried to escape. "(The note) says that probably two or three people tried to get out of the sunken submarine through a rescue hatch in the ninth compartment," Motsak said. "As we know, that attempt failed, maybe because it was filled ith water."

The same escape hatch was found to be filled with water when Norwegian divers opened it on August 21. Rescuers called off the operation shortly afterwards. Russian and Norwegian divers working from a special platform, the Regalia, pulled three bodies out of the wreck late on Wednesday, and a fourth on Thursday. Motsak said severe storms were hampering ongoing operations.

Divers had planned to cut seven holes at various points around the Kursk’s hull, but Motsak said the discovery of the letter meant there were probably more bodies in the aft section and the navy would now consider re-directing efforts there. The sinking of the Kursk glued the Russian nation to its television screens and drew a worldwide response, as the Russian navy spent a week trying and failing to link an escape capsule to the submarine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin faced a barrage of criticism for his hands-off handling of the crisis during its first days.

Officials initially said they had detected sailors tapping SOS messages on the hull, sparking hope that at least part of the crew was still alive. But the discovery of water inside the escape hatch by Norwegian divers killed off any last hopes that there were survivors on board, by which time navy officials had started saying they thought the whole crew had died instantly.