Sub Yields More Remains, Farewell Note

Forcing their way through the disfigured carcass of the Kursk nuclear submarine, investigators Tuesday recovered seven more bodies and a farewell note written by a doomed sailor in the final moments of his life.

Search teams have pulled 52 bodies from the wreck since it was lifted from the seabed and brought to dry dock last week in the northern Russian port of Roslyakovo. Twelve other bodies were pulled from the Kursk by divers last fall, bringing the total retrieved to 64.

The Kursk’s entire 118-person crew died after two powerful explosions sent the submarine plunging to the Barents Sea floor during military exercises in August 2000.

Divers have found notes written by some of the sailors indicating that they remained alive for hours. Another such note was found Tuesday in a bottle.

Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov said the note was written by Chief Warrant Officer Oleg Borisov, whose body was among those recovered last fall from the submarine’s stern sections.

It was a farewell message for his family and contained no information about the disaster, Ustinov said in remarks broadcast by Russian television. He did not reveal its contents.

Ustinov, who is in charge of the investigation of the Kursk accident, said forensic experts were working to retrieve several more bodies they had spotted.

The Russian navy initially said it expected to find no more than 40 bodies, believing that most of the sailors’ remains were obliterated by the blasts, which occurred in the forward sections.

Now it appears that some of the sailors had time between the blasts to escape to the stern, said Russia’s naval commander, Adm. Vladimir Kuroyedov.

Since early Monday, the navy has safely removed eight of the Kursk’s 22 Granit cruise missiles, Kuroyedov said. He said all eight were from the port side.

Officials have said the retrieval of some starboard missiles could be more difficult because one of the containers encasing them is filled with water.

Deputy Prime Minister Ilya I. Klebanov said Monday that investigators were moving closer to finding the reasons for the explosions that sank the Kursk.

Officials agree that the first blast probably came from a practice torpedo in one of the nose tubes. But they disagree on what caused the torpedo to explode. Most outside experts suspect an internal malfunction, but Russian officials have not ruled out a collision with a World War II mine or a Western submarine.

The torpedo section was left on the seabed out of concern that it could break off during the salvage operation.

Residents have said they fear radiation leaks and the detonation of missiles still aboard. But officials have recorded no abnormal radiation, and the Russian navy has ruled out any detonation of the 22 cruise missiles, which have a range of 300 miles and the power to destroy an aircraft carrier.