Russian Sub Rescue In Works

A Russian mini-submarine carrying seven sailors snagged on a fishing net and was stuck with a dangerously limited air supply 625 feet down on the Pacific floor Friday. A Russian vessel arrived to tow the stranded sub to shallower waters as the United States and Britain rushed unmanned vehicles there to help in rescue efforts.

But Russian officials say they're not sure they've successfully hooked the disabled submarine.

The Interfax news agency reported the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Viktor Fyodorov, said the mini-sub was being towed to shallow water. But the news agency quotes another Navy officer who says it's too early to say if the rescue crews snared the sub.

A Navy spokesman says a cable sailors are using to try to snag the vessel is under tension, but that doesn't mean the sub is definitely caught.

The sub's propeller became snarled in a fishing net yesterday and has been stuck on the sea floor off the Kamchatka Peninsula. It was unclear whether there was enough oxygen aboard the mini-sub to keep the crew alive long enough for remote-controlled vehicles to reach them from bases in San Diego and Britain.

Fyodorov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying the air supply aboard the submarine would last until sometime Monday. However, he earlier told Russia's Channel One television that air would last "a little more than 24 hours."

In case the Russian rescue vehicle cannot snare the submarine, the U.S. is sending a high-powered dive vehicle called a Super Scorpio from San Diego to Russia via plane. The unmanned vehicle can reach depths of up to 5,000 feet and is equipped with high-powered lights, sonar and video cameras, said Capt. Matt Brown, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet in Honolulu.

U.S. Navy deep submergence unit Commander Kent Van Horn said the Scorpio is also equipped with manipulator arms that can cut the cables or nets that are entrapping the submarine, CBS News reports. He said the U.S. Navy was anxious to get the plane in the air and is eager to help the Russians.

"These are fellow submariners that are stuck in the bottom, and that's the approach we all take," Van Horn said.

The Deep Submergence Unit team is scheduled to leave San Diego's North Island Naval Air Station on an Air Force C-5 transport plane at 1:45 p.m., the Pentagon said.

The Super Scorpio then will be transported by truck and loaded on a Russian ship before making its descent to the stricken vessel.

The Russian sub's propeller became entangled in a fishing net Thursday, Russian navy Capt. Igor Dygalo said on state-run Rossiya television. The accident occurred in Beryozovaya Bay, about 50 miles south of Kamchatka's capital, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, officials said.

"There is air remaining on the underwater apparatus for a day — one day," Dygalo said at about 6 a.m. "The operation continues. We have a day, and intensive, active measures will be taken to rescue the AS-28 vessel and the people aboard."

The confusion over the air supply apparently stemmed from the fact that there were seven people aboard the vessel, which normally carries a crew of three.

Fleet spokesman Capt. Alexander Kosolapov said contact had been made with the sailors, who were not hurt.

Dygalo told NTV television that Russian authorities were working out a rescue plan that could be put in motion later in the day, but he did not describe it.

The mini-sub, called an AS-28, was too deep to allow the sailors to swim to the surface on their own or for divers to reach it, officials said.

The crisis evoked comparisons with the 2000 disaster involving the nuclear submarine Kursk. The Kursk sank to the bottom of the Barents Sea after explosions on board, killing all 118 seamen aboard.

However, some Kursk sailors survived for hours as oxygen ran out, and Russian authorities were criticized severely for waiting several days before asking for international assistance.

This time, Russia waited just a day before seeking help.

Both accidents raise questions about the state of Russia's cash-strapped military. The same type of vessel that is now stuck, called a Priz, was used in the rescue efforts that followed the Kursk disaster, Interfax reported.

The latest accident occurred early Thursday after the mini-submarine was launched from a rescue ship during a combat training exercise, Kosolapov said. The AS-28, built in 1989, is about 44 feet long and 19 feet high and can dive to depths of 1,640 feet.

Two surface ships were sweeping the area with nets in the hope of wresting the trapped vessel from the sea floor, adding that the rescue effort would continue into the night, Dygalo said.

Russia appealed to the United States and Japan for assistance, the Interfax news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Boris Malakhov as saying.

Brown said the Russian military has indicated that the AS-28 may have been fouled by fishing nets or steel cables. The vehicle does have an instrument that can cut steel cables, he said.

The Super Scorpio, which weighs about 4,500 pounds, has been used to conduct underwater surveys and inspections.

About 30 or 40 people will accompany the vehicle to Russia, Naval sources say. And up to 150,000 pounds of equipment will be flown to Russia, CBS News has learned.

"We are working as fast as we can to make this happen," he said.

The British vehicle was being loaded onto a Royal Air Force transport plane at Scotland's Prestwick airport and was expected to arrive at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the city nearest the site, at about 5 a.m. Saturday, said Anton Atrashkin, spokesman for the British Embassy in Moscow.

That means the British vessel likely will arrive before the U.S. vessel.

Since Soviet times, the Kamchatka Peninsula has housed several major submarine bases and numerous other military facilities, and large areas of it have remained closed to outsiders.

Airlifting a U.S. underwater vehicle to the area will mark the first time since the World War II era that a U.S. military plane has been allowed to fly there.

At Moscow's request, Japan dispatched a vessel carrying submarine rescue gear and three other ships to join salvage efforts, but they were not expected to arrive at the scene until early next week, Marine Self Defense Force spokesman Hidetsubu Iwamasa said.