By
The Associated Press
MOSCOW - Russian and Norwegian divers cast a wreath yesterday on the arctic waters above the sunken nuclear submarine Kursk and gave up their effort to recover more bodies from the vessel, saying they had done all they could.
The remains of only 12 of the 118 crewmen who died in the Aug. 12 disaster were brought to the surface and identified during the risky 18-day operation in the Barents Sea off Russia's northern coast. But navy officials had cautioned that most bodies would not be recovered.
The explosions that sank the Kursk likely blew many of the crew to bits, and hurled heavy equipment and machinery around the shattered vessel's compartments, making it impossible for divers to safely reach parts of the sub.
Northern Fleet spokesman Vladimir Navrotsky said the decision to end the operation was made after a conference between Russian and Norwegian officials supervising the work. The divers assembled on the mother ship Regalia for a short ceremony before the vessel headed for home in Norway.
"In their short speeches, the divers said they had done everything possible for the Kursk, and more," Navrotsky said.
The divers had worked for the past two days to remove jagged debris from the upper deck of the submarine's fourth compartment, yet could only move 6 feet along a single passageway, and no remains were found. The divers then welded shut the hole they had cut in the section.
Divers decided not to search for remains in the fifth compartment because any bodies were likely to be located on a lower level, which could only be reached through a hatch too small for the divers' bulky suits, Navrotsky said.
All the bodies were recovered from a rear compartment, farther from the bow where the explosions are believed to have occurred.
Navrotsky said the Russian cruiser Peter the Great and a Russian ship checking for possible radiation leaks stayed at the site. The Russian divers will remain aboard the Regalia for several more days to complete decompression necessary after deep diving, he said.
Navrotsky and officials from the Norwegian arm of Halliburton, a Dallas-based oil-services company hired by Russia to organize the recovery effort, said the operation had been a success.
"We did what we set out to do," Halliburton spokesman Birger Haraldseid said. "We did something no one else has done, by cutting a hole in a submarine at the bottom of the ocean."
After attempts to find more bodies failed, divers went back down to the submarine yesterday to inspect the hull in preparation for a possible operation to raise the entire vessel next year, Navrotsky said.
The divers worked in shifts around the clock more than 300 feet below the surface, with occasional pauses because of harsh weather.
At least 23 sailors survived the initial explosion in the rear of the vessel, as indicated by a letter found on the body of Lt. Dmitry Kolesnikov.
The cause of the Kursk's sinking remains unknown. Russian officials favor a theory that a collision with a foreign submarine set off the powerful blasts. But others have said the most likely reason was a torpedo exploding in its tube because of a technical malfunction.
