The chances of finding any crew alive aboard the Russian submarine, Kursk, grew fainter still tonight after the explosion on the vessel was reported to be much bigger than previously thought. Hopes were further hit after a break in the weather allowed a Russian rescue capsule to finally reach its shattered hulk, only to find blast damage prevented an airtight seal being made over the vessel's rear escape hatch. Despite the setbacks, British rescuers heading towards the Barents Sea aboard a supply vessel say they have not given up hope of reaching survivors.
Meanwhile, the Commander of Russia's Northern Fleet has said that the submarine, grounded at the bottom of the Barents Sea since Saturday, had been crippled by an explosion, but what caused the blast was still under consideration. Vyacheslav Popov was speaking to Russian state television. His comment appeared to be an attempt to reconcile two versions of what happened. Other Russian officials have said that there had been a collision with an unknown object while a Norwegian seismic institute said that it had recorded two explosions. A Norwegian news agency said that the institute estimated that the stronger of the two blasts was equivalent to between one and two tonnes of TNT.
Russia's President, Vladimir Putin, has said he did not behave amorally when he decided against cutting short his holiday at the outset of the Kursk crisis. Speaking from Ukraine, Mr Putin said that he had been told the crew of the disabled nuclear submarine stood, from the start, only a small chance of being rescued. A summit of the leaders of the former Soviet republics are holding a summit one day early because of the crisis.
Mr Putin's government has been coming under increasingly fierce criticism within Russia for doing too little, too late, to help the disabled nuclear submarine, which has been lying at the bottom of the Barents Sea for almost a week. The submarine was said to be sinking into mud and listing badly.
