Rescue ships to set out for Kursk's wreck site on May 30th

Rescue ships will put to sea to the wreck site of the Kursk nuclear submarine on May 30th if the weather in the Barents Sea is fine. Vladimir Navrotsky, the head of the press service of the Russian Northern Fleet, has been quoted as saying.

According to him, the Kil-164 support vessel is currently equipping a roadstead at the site where the debris of the Kursk first compartment is located. The Kil-164 arrived at the site last night. The vessel's crew spent all night working using the light of the perpetual day. Their mission is to equip the roadstead, i.e. to install two beams, to which rescue ships will dock.

According to Vladimir Navrotsky, the decision to put to sea the Altai and Mikhail Rudnitsky rescue ships will be taken in the late hours of Wednesday following a report by the Kil-164's captain about the completion of the first stage of works.

The Kursk nuclear submarine sunk in the Barents Sea in August 2000. The submarine /without its first compartment/ was salvaged in autumn 2001.