For the first time in five days there was no sign of life from the trapped Russian nuclear submarine, the Kursk, yesterday, raising fears last night that it was too late for international rescue attempts to succeed where the Russians had failed. A raging Arctic storm had whipped up high waves throughout the day, defeating repeated Russian navy attempts to get rescue capsules to dock with the submarine, trapped on the bed of the Barents Sea.
An international rescue operation began to fall into place last night, but there were growing fears for the lives of 118 trapped sailors, and as night fell the crew had still made no contact, according to a Russian navy spokesman. The Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Ilya Kleb anov, said the fact that the crew had stopped making SOS signals by tapping on the hull might not mean "anything terrible". But northern fleet officers in Murmansk said it could augur "something sad".
In Washington, a US intelligence official said US intelligence sources had detected no signs of life in the Kursk. "I'm not aware that we ever detected signs of life," he said. The submarine sank to the bottom of the Barents Sea after explosions ripped through it, the official said. "There appear to be have been a couple explosions followed by it rapidly going to the bottom."
Russian officials had said the crew, whose number was originally put at 116, would run out of air by tomorrow. Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov suggested yesterday that oxygen could possibly last until next week, but others fear that the oxygen supply might have run out already.
Russia officially confirmed it had asked for help after declining offers of assistance for two days. A NATO official confirmed two high-ranking Russian military officers would travel to Brussels today to discuss ways of saving the submarine crew.
A British rescue team equipped with a unique minisub is due to leave the Norwegian port of Trondheim today in what may be the last hope for the sailors. However, the LR5 rescue vehicle has never before been used in a real emergency, and is not expected to arrive at the site of the accident until Saturday.
President Clinton last night renewed his offer of help and expressed his concern during a telephone call with President Putin, a White House spokesman said. Mr Putin replied that he was actively considering offers of outside assistance.
Norway said yesterday it had agreed to a Russian request to send divers and possibly ships to help rescue the Kursk's crew. The Norwegian Foreign Ministry said a divers' mother ship in the Haltenbanken area off north Norway was heading for the area of the Barents Sea above the Kursk. But a Foreign Ministry spokesman said the vessel and divers would not reach the submarine for two days.
Using two rescue capsules sent down from a surface ship, the Russians tried at least five times yesterday to lock on to the submarine's main escape hatch on the upper stern. But the stormy weather, the strong underwater currents and the lack of visibility all frustrated attempts to lock on to the listing submarine. The Russian rescue craft, manned by crews of three, ran out of oxygen and one was damaged while surfacing. The chief designer of the rescue craft said the vessels had not been used for years and that few Russian sailors had any training in how to handle them.
The British rescue equipment was airlifted in a Russian Antonov to Trondheim from Prestwick airport near Glasgow. The 34-strong rescue British party includes navy divers, doctors and interpreters. Along with the LR5, they will be equipped with a remote operated vehicle, the Scorpio, which will make an initial reconnaissance and clear any obstructions.
The LR5 is usually based at Britain's nuclear submarine base at Faslane on the Clyde. It was being transferred last night on to the Normand Pioneer, a chartered vessel which will act as the mother ship for the operation. Decompression chambers were flown on ahead in an RAF Hercules aircraft.
But a Ministry of Defence spokeswoman in London said last night: "We don't know how far into this the Russians are, what the state of the crew is or the vessel. There are so many things we don't know."