Russia announced on Tuesday it would begin pulling out the bodies of the 118 seamen who died in the Kursk submarine at the end of September.
"The operation to recover the bodies will begin at the end of September. We expect the Norwegians to participate," Russian deputy prime minister Ilya Klebanov told journalists.
The Kursk nuclear-powered submarine sank in the Barents Sea on August 12th in an unexplained catastrophe.
Klebanov said that the joint operation to retrieve the bodies from the submarine still lying 108 meters (355 feet) underwater would be carried out by three divers, two Russians and a Norwegian, using a bell-shaped capsule.
The deputy prime minister said six holes in the Kursk would have to made in order to get the bodies out, and the entire operation would likely cost between five and seven million dollars.
The cutting process will be a major task because of the submarine's double hull and may take several weeks, the Russian media said.
Klebanov, who heads the government commission investigating the tragedy, said that the 14,000 ton submarine itself should be brought to the surface within the next 12 months.
The deputy prime minister of Russia said that they are hoping to receive international help for the operation that will cost 100 million dollars
He was speaking to journalists after holding talks with the constructors of the submarine, the Rubin engineering firm.
The builders said earlier they had mapped out a plan to recover the bodies of 118 crew members before November storms hit the Arctic Barents Sea.
Klebanov denied a claim by a Russian lawmaker that the submarine was participating in a top-secret trial of a new weapons system when it sank.
"There was no new torpedo onboard," he said.
Russian authorities have repeatedly said the loss of the 118 crew aboard the submarine was the result of a collision with an external object, probably a US or British submarine – SAINT PETERSBURG, Russia (AFP)
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