Vladimir Putin's visit to Italy began with a delay. That's because, before the departure, the President held a meeting with Sergey Shoygu. The Defense Minister, on his instruction, went to Severomorsk to clarify the circumstances of the death of 14 submariners in a deep-sea apparatus of the Northern Fleet.
Andrey Grigoriev has the details.
The Defense Minister, who has just returned from Severomorsk, reports to the President about the results of the investigation.
Sergey Shoygu, Defense Minister:
- The main cause of the accident is the fire in the battery compartment. Then, it spread over to this area here.
Vladimir Putin:
- In what state is the nuclear power plant?
- The nuclear power plant is fully isolated and automated in that apparatus. In addition to that, the crew members took all of the necessary measures to protect that plant. It's fully in operational condition.
This is the footage of today's Severomorsk. An investigative office is working here on the circumstances of the accident. In the near future, experts should present their findings.
Sergey Shoygu, Defense Minister: “We engaged the designers of the ship and the industry to assess the amount of and how long the repairs and restoration of the submarine will take. According to the first assessments, it's possible to repair it. In our case, it isn't just possible but necessary.”
As soon as the investigation is over, and it may take about a month, the boat will be towed to the plant. Only the time required for repairs is still undetermined. But it's definitely decided that the station will be restored and returned here, to the Russian Northern Fleet.
A military expert showed how a deep-water apparatus of this type works.
“This is a schematic diagram of the deep-water station.”
Its light external case isn't different from any other submarine. But the internal durable case consists of seven titanium spheres, five of them are compartments for the crew, and two are for the reactor and geared turbine, that is, the engine. The crew doesn't even have access to them. The fire occurred in one of the residential areas: there are batteries located below the deck.
Viktor Murakhovsky, military expert: "Apparently, flammable gases started to be emitted in the battery itself. The crew of such a submarine was provided with portable breathing devices. In essence, they're insulating gas masks. But they are designed to work for up to 15-16 minutes. Within this time, they failed to completely extinguish the fire."
According to experts, the automatic fire extinguishing system worked, but it wasn't powerful enough to put out the flames. And the crew had to fight the fire manually.
Mikhail Khodaryonok, military expert: "When a fire breaks out in one of the compartments, in order to save the ship, you have to lock the inter-compartment hatches and even sacrifice a part of the crew to save the ship as a whole. This accident seems to have happened on that research autonomous deep-water apparatus."
To close ourselves inside a burning compartment is undoubtedly a heroic deed. The Defense Ministry will take care of the victims' families.
Sergey Shoygu, Defense Minister:
- In accordance with your mandate, we'll provide all the necessary assistance. This includes the provision of a decent education to their children, those who are still studying, and decent housing conditions. The families with underage children will be provided with an allowance in the amount, which their husbands earned when they were alive.
Vladimir Putin:
- Sergey Kuzhugetovich, I ask you to present proposals to recommend the crew of that underwater apparatus for state awards.
- Yes, sir!
Severomorsk grieves, but everyone here understands: at the cost of their own lives, the officers saved their comrades and the unique vessel.
