It's a race against time - how must those poor men be feeling as their air runs out?
The world anxiously awaits the rescue missions - how great to see various well-equipped and resourced nations rushing to aid the stricken mini-sub.
Will it be enough?
Sub: U.S., UK rescue teams arrive
Saturday, August 6, 2005; Posted: 10:20 a.m. EDT (14:20 GMT)
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Teams from the United States and Britain have arrived in Russia to help rescue seven Russian sailors trapped in a mini-submarine 625 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.A U.S. Air Force C-5, loaded with two unmanned submersible rescue vehicles along with 40 submariners, divers and other experts, landed in eastern Russia about 3:15 a.m. ET, a U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman said. A U.S. C-17, carrying equipment and specialists, landed about two hours later.
"This is an international effort, involving the British and Japanese, and led and coordinated by the Russians," said spokesman John Yoshishige.
A British plane, also carrying an unmanned rescue vehicle, landed about two hours earlier. The Scorpio 45 has three cameras as well as cable-cutting equipment.
Just before 4 a.m. ET, the Russian news agency Interfax reported the rescue equipment would arrive at the mini-sub in about three and a half hours.
Russia's deputy Naval Chief of Staff Rear Adm. Vladimir Pepelyayev told Interfax on Saturday the rescue mission should be completed within 24 hours "because the onboard air supply is not limitless."
Interfax quoted Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Viktor Fyodorov as saying there is enough oxygen to hold till 2 p.m. Monday, Kamchatka time, which would be Sunday evening EDT.
Authorities recently communicated with the mini-sub's crew, who remain in good condition, he said. He also said British rescuers would start their work several hours from now, around 4 p.m. EDT.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met Saturday with officials including the prime minister, the minister of defense and the head of federal security services. In the meeting, Putin ordered Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov to fly to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
Although initial reports said the propeller of the sub, an AS-28, became stuck on some fishing nets or cable, Interfax later reported the sub was fitted with a coastal observation aerial, held to the ocean floor by at least one anchor.
The apparatus is keeping the sub from rising, and Interfax said the anchors were to be blown up in order to raise . An earlier plan to cut the antenna and anchors apparently was abandoned. It was unclear whether a fishing net or cable was also involved.
The sub is nearly 625 feet deep on the Pacific floor in Beryozovaya Bay, 43 miles south of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on the southern end of the Kamchatka Peninsula on Russia's east coast.
Interfax, citing Fyodorov, reported early Saturday that the sub was moved 100 meters to shallower water.
Fyodorov said there was enough oxygen aboard to last more than a day, Interfax reported. He had earlier told the news agency there was enough oxygen to last until Monday and that the crew was ordered "to stay in a horizontal position and save strength and air."
Details about how the vessel was moved were not immediately available.
Interfax had earlier reported that the Russian navy was using trawling nets to try to snag the sub, and that an object had been captured. But at the time, authorities weren't sure if the object was the distressed sub.
Russian authorities are maintaining contact with the seven member crew and they are reportedly in "satisfactory" condition. Interfax quoted Russian Navy Rear Adm. Vladimir Pepelyayev as saying the rescue efforts would continue around the clock.
Earlier, U.S. Navy Lt. Ryan Perry told CNN, "We understand, being sailors ourselves, the distress that they're feeling right now. We'll do everything we possibly can to bring about their safe return."
The C-5 left from the San Diego North Island Naval Station. Its crew and rescue vessels, called Super Scorpios, will be put aboard a Russian ship and taken to the site.
The Super Scorpios -- equipped with video cameras, lights and agile robotic arms that can cut up to one inch of steel cable -- will be piloted by remote control as they try to untangle the mini-sub from the netting, the Navy said.
The arms are so dexterous that they can pick up a dime from the ocean floor, said Capt. Jacque yost, the Navy public affairs officer at the California station.
A third U.S. underwater vehicle, called Deep Drone 8000, was to leave from Andrews Air Force Base later Friday.
In addition, said Russian navy spokesman Igor Dygalo, Japan is sending ships that are to arrive Tuesday.
The sub incident comes almost five years to the day when the giant Russian nuclear submarine Kursk sank in the icy waters of the Barents Sea on Aug. 12, 2000 and all 118 crew members died in the incident.
Russian authorities were slow to ask for international assistance during the Kursk incident, but this time they promptly asked for help.
Officials said the Russian navy contacted the U.S. naval attache office in Moscow immediately after the incident in an effort to get in contact with the U.S. Pacific fleet.
U.S. Navy officials then held a high-level overnight meeting in Hawaii and decided to send the rescue vehicles.
"We're just trying to get there as quickly as possible," the U.S. Navy's Perry told CNN.
Sub: U.S., UK rescue teams arrive
Saturday, August 6, 2005; Posted: 10:20 a.m. EDT (14:20 GMT)
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Teams from the United States and Britain have arrived in Russia to help rescue seven Russian sailors trapped in a mini-submarine 625 feet below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.A U.S. Air Force C-5, loaded with two unmanned submersible rescue vehicles along with 40 submariners, divers and other experts, landed in eastern Russia about 3:15 a.m. ET, a U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman said. A U.S. C-17, carrying equipment and specialists, landed about two hours later.
"This is an international effort, involving the British and Japanese, and led and coordinated by the Russians," said spokesman John Yoshishige.
A British plane, also carrying an unmanned rescue vehicle, landed about two hours earlier. The Scorpio 45 has three cameras as well as cable-cutting equipment.
Just before 4 a.m. ET, the Russian news agency Interfax reported the rescue equipment would arrive at the mini-sub in about three and a half hours.
Russia's deputy Naval Chief of Staff Rear Adm. Vladimir Pepelyayev told Interfax on Saturday the rescue mission should be completed within 24 hours "because the onboard air supply is not limitless."
Interfax quoted Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Viktor Fyodorov as saying there is enough oxygen to hold till 2 p.m. Monday, Kamchatka time, which would be Sunday evening EDT.
Authorities recently communicated with the mini-sub's crew, who remain in good condition, he said. He also said British rescuers would start their work several hours from now, around 4 p.m. EDT.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met Saturday with officials including the prime minister, the minister of defense and the head of federal security services. In the meeting, Putin ordered Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov to fly to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
Although initial reports said the propeller of the sub, an AS-28, became stuck on some fishing nets or cable, Interfax later reported the sub was fitted with a coastal observation aerial, held to the ocean floor by at least one anchor.
The apparatus is keeping the sub from rising, and Interfax said the anchors were to be blown up in order to raise . An earlier plan to cut the antenna and anchors apparently was abandoned. It was unclear whether a fishing net or cable was also involved.
The sub is nearly 625 feet deep on the Pacific floor in Beryozovaya Bay, 43 miles south of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on the southern end of the Kamchatka Peninsula on Russia's east coast.
Interfax, citing Fyodorov, reported early Saturday that the sub was moved 100 meters to shallower water.
Fyodorov said there was enough oxygen aboard to last more than a day, Interfax reported. He had earlier told the news agency there was enough oxygen to last until Monday and that the crew was ordered "to stay in a horizontal position and save strength and air."
Details about how the vessel was moved were not immediately available.
Interfax had earlier reported that the Russian navy was using trawling nets to try to snag the sub, and that an object had been captured. But at the time, authorities weren't sure if the object was the distressed sub.
Russian authorities are maintaining contact with the seven member crew and they are reportedly in "satisfactory" condition. Interfax quoted Russian Navy Rear Adm. Vladimir Pepelyayev as saying the rescue efforts would continue around the clock.
Earlier, U.S. Navy Lt. Ryan Perry told CNN, "We understand, being sailors ourselves, the distress that they're feeling right now. We'll do everything we possibly can to bring about their safe return."
The C-5 left from the San Diego North Island Naval Station. Its crew and rescue vessels, called Super Scorpios, will be put aboard a Russian ship and taken to the site.
The Super Scorpios -- equipped with video cameras, lights and agile robotic arms that can cut up to one inch of steel cable -- will be piloted by remote control as they try to untangle the mini-sub from the netting, the Navy said.
The arms are so dexterous that they can pick up a dime from the ocean floor, said Capt. Jacque yost, the Navy public affairs officer at the California station.
A third U.S. underwater vehicle, called Deep Drone 8000, was to leave from Andrews Air Force Base later Friday.
In addition, said Russian navy spokesman Igor Dygalo, Japan is sending ships that are to arrive Tuesday.
The sub incident comes almost five years to the day when the giant Russian nuclear submarine Kursk sank in the icy waters of the Barents Sea on Aug. 12, 2000 and all 118 crew members died in the incident.
Russian authorities were slow to ask for international assistance during the Kursk incident, but this time they promptly asked for help.
Officials said the Russian navy contacted the U.S. naval attache office in Moscow immediately after the incident in an effort to get in contact with the U.S. Pacific fleet.
U.S. Navy officials then held a high-level overnight meeting in Hawaii and decided to send the rescue vehicles.
"We're just trying to get there as quickly as possible," the U.S. Navy's Perry told CNN.