Investigation of Russian AS-28 mini-sub accident likely to lead to another mystery

The area, in which the vessel sank, is known for a mysterious naval base, at which a large number of strategic nuclear submarines are stationed

The Russian AS-28 mini-sub, which suffered an accident miles off the Kamachatka Peninsula coast on Thursday, was retrieved from the bottom of the Pacific floor early at 7:25 a.m. on Sunday. Seven members of the crew opened up the hatch of the mini-sub without assistance and walked aboard a rescue vessel. The seven seamen were luckily saved from almost three days of underwater captivity.

When the Kursk submarine sank in the Barents Sea five years ago, the commander of the Russian Northern Navy, Vyacheslav Popov, was dismissed from his position. When the K-159 submarine sank three years ago, Russian authorities removed another commander, Admiral Gennady Suchkov. It seems that there is no political sense in looking for those guilty of the accident with the AS-28 minisub.

The happy end of the mini-sub accident at sea - Photo gallery

The Alagez rescue boat took the seven sailors of the rescued submarine to the central hospital of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Admiral Vladimir Pepelayev said that serious medical aid was not required for the sailors. The seamen experienced the life-threatening accident courageously: they did not panic, neither did they try to take any actions independently. The command of the Russian Navy did not try to conceal the news about the state of the mini-sub from the press either.

To all appearance, law-enforcement authorities will have to lay responsibility on those, who plan sea operations ashore. The Russian mini-sub AS-28 was trapped in Beryozovaya Bay at the depth of over 190 meters in the afternoon of August 4. The vessel was blocked in cables and pieces of fishing net some 75 kilometers off the southern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula coast.

The region is known for a mysterious naval base, at which a large number of strategic nuclear submarines of the Russian Pacific Navy are stationed. NATO refers to the base as the hornet's nest. The base is equipped with a secret system to detect foreign submarines. The cable, in which the mini-sub was blocked, was a part of one of the central antennas of the underwater radar system, the former commander of the Black Sea Navy, Admiral Eduard Baltin said.

The sailing of fishing boats is either prohibited or restricted in the area, where the radar system is based. It is therefore unclear, how the drag-net or a piece of fishing net could find themselves on the spot, where the AS-28 mini-submarine suffered an accident.