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CNN Live Sunday

Family Members Remember 118 Sailors Lost at Sea

Aired August 12, 2001 - 16:09   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: A year after the Russian submarine Kursk sank in the Barents Sea killing all aboard, many questions remain, as family members gather to remember the 118 sailors lost at sea. CNN's Steve Harrigan has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEVE HARRIGAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Their sons are dead, all 118 of them. What makes it harder for the families is that one year after the Russian submarine Kursk sank, they still don't know what to believe.

IRINA KOLESNIKOVA, MOTHER (through translator): I don't when my son died. Did he die on August 12, August 13 or August 14?

HARRIGAN: Lieutenant Dmitriy Kolesnikov was not safe with his crewmates after two explosions brought the Kursk to the floor of the Barents sea, as the Russian navy initially reported, nor was killed instantly along with everyone else on board, as the Russian navy then reported after rescue efforts failed. The truth came later, not from the navy, but from Lieutenant Kolesnikov himself.

(on camera): After the explosions, after a fire, in a smoke- filled submarine on the bottom of the sea, in darkness, he wrote.

(voice-over): His note was recovered with his body.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): "Don't despair," he told us. He told us! I cannot imagine how he could be so brave.

HARRIGAN: Twenty-three men survived for at least several hours after the explosions, according to the note. The failure of Russian rescue efforts and the delay to ask other nations for help has left even a 40-year navy veteran angry.

ROMAN KOLESNIKOV, FATHER (through translator): I always wanted my sons to be sailors, to be real men, but the system is guilty. If we can't afford such a navy, why do we have it? Let them go.

HARRIGAN: Dmitriy is gone at 27, leaving a wife, a mother and a father to stand over his grave.

Steve Harrigan, CNN, St. Petersburg.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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