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Relatives Of Kursk Submarine Sailors Mark 17th Anniversary Of Disaster

by RFE/RL

   Residents of St. Petersburg on Saturday paid homage to sailors from the
   Kursk nuclear submarine, which sank in the Barents Sea exactly 17 years
   earlier.

   Relatives and friends of crew members gathered for a memorial service
   and a commemorative meeting at St. Petersburg's Serafimovskoye
   Cemetery.

   All 118 crew members aboard the nuclear-powered Kursk submarine died on
   August 12, 2000, after an explosion occurred as the crew was preparing
   to fire a practice torpedo.

   The Russian Navy's final official report concluded that the explosion
   was caused by the failure of a torpedo.

   The Kursk was raised from the bottom of the Barents Sea in 2001.

   Reporting includes information from TASS and Interfax.