RUSSIA: THOUSANDS ATTEND FUNERAL OF SECOND SAILOR TO BE BURIED FROM THE ILL-FATED SUBMARINE KURSK

Record ID: 646817

  • Title: RUSSIA: THOUSANDS ATTEND FUNERAL OF SECOND SAILOR TO BE BURIED FROM THE ILL-FATED SUBMARINE KURSK
  • Date: 3rd November 2000
  • Summary: KURSK, RUSSIA (NOVEMBER 3, 2000) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SIDE VIEW OF CATHEDRAL 0.06 2. MV/SV: CHURCH SERVICE FOR KURSK SUB-MARINER VICTOR KUZNETSOV AND HIS MOTHER (2 SHOTS) 0.22 3. SV/CU/MV: MOURNERS PRAYING WITH CANDLES (3 SHOTS) 0.43 4. TV: COFFINS WITH THE BODY OF VICTOR KUZNETSOV AND HIS MOTHER OUTSIDE THEIR HOUSE 0.51 5. VARIOUS: RELATIVES CRYING/ KUZNETSOV'S BROTHER /PEOPLE STANDING NEXT TO COFFINS CRYING (5 SHOTS) 1.25 6. MV: MOURNING PROCESSION 1.39 7. SV: SOLDIERS CARRYING WREATHS 1.44 8. SV: MOURNING PROCESSION 1.53 9. SV/WS: MILITARY CARRYING COFFIN TOWARDS THE "OFFICERS' CLUB" (2 SHOTS) 2.21 10. SV/SCU/WS: PEOPLE LAYING FLOWER NEXT COFFIN INSIDE "OFFICERS CLUB" (2 SHOTS) 2.46 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 18th November 2000 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: KURSK,RUSSIA
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVA7CIIPQ4O8AH9QUETYZBI6E9ZF
  • Story Text: Thousands of people have attended the funeral of the
    second sailor to be buried from the ill-fated submarine Kursk.

    Victor Kuznetsov, whose body was one of the first to be
    raised from the wreck of the Russian submarine, was buried
    with his mother who died just hours before divers found her
    son's body in the Barents sea.



    Thousands of Kursk residents attended the funeral of
    Victor Kuznetsov on Friday (November 3) against a backdrop of
    red, white and blue Russian flags flying over the town.

    The mourners wore black bands on their arm as a mark of
    respect for Kuznetsov - one of the first four bodies raised
    from the wreck of the Kursk submarine by divers last week -
    and his mother Olga who did not live to hear the news that her
    son's body had been retrieved.

    Just hours before news arrived that Kuznetsov had been
    hauled from the Barents sea, his mother Olga Kuznetsova died
    in the submarine's home town.

    One hundred and eighteen men died in the sinking of the
    Kursk submarine. It was post-Soviet Russia's worst naval
    disaster.

    On Friday Kuznetsov's wife Valentina laid red roses next
    to her mother-in -law and cried over the military hat and red
    shroud covering the coffin of her 27 year-old husband.

    An orthodox priest blessed the bodies before soldiers
    carried the coffins through streets filled with Kursk
    residents.

    Kuznetsov was buried close to the centre of Kursk, near a
    memorial to the towns's World War two dead.

    The Kursk tragedy has touched the entire nation and set off
    a national debate over the military's right to keep a cloak of
    secrecy over events, the amount or lack of government
    financing to the military, and the plight of the nation's
    military servicemen.

    The family of the officer whose note remains the only
    chilling testimony of the dying hours of the Kursk submarine
    buried their son on Thursday (November 2). It was the first
    funeral to be held by relatives of the 118 dead crew.

    The funeral of Lieutenant-Captain Dmitry Kolesnikov
    featured a large copy of the letter he scrawled as he sat in
    darkness waiting for death or rescue.

    It sat at the foot of his coffin in a hall in Russia's
    second city of St Petersburg where a mourning ceremony was
    held. It was entitled "No need to despair" by one of the
    family.

    "It is dark to write but I will try by feel. It seems
    there is no chance, 10 to 20 percent. Let's hope someone will
    read this," it said.

    "Here there are lists of the personnel of the sections who
    are in the ninth (section) and will try to get out. Hello to
    everyone, there is no need for despair," the note said.

    The finding of the note last week revived the emotions
    which swept Russia when the disaster struck in August and
    disproved official statements all the crew died in the first
    moments.

    Kolesnikov was commander of the turbine room on the Kursk.

    His note showed that around 23 of the crew managed to make
    their way to the rearmost ninth section.

    Kolesnikov's body was buried in a special part of a local
    cemetery called Heroes' Way to a gun-salute and a small parade
    of navy officers.

    Divers have so far entered the wreck, 108 metres (354 ft)
    down on the bottom of the ocean, via the eighth section and
    partially examined the ninth. They have so far recovered 12
    bodies.

    The divers earlier this week switched their efforts to the
    front of the wreck and had carved a hole near the third
    section, close to the epicentre of the blasts which sank the
    vessel.

    Itar-Tass news agency quoted the Northern Fleet press
    office as saying the head of Russia's navy, Vladimir
    Kuroyedov, had told divers not to enter the third section,
    where tangled metal and darkness created big risks.

    Tass said Kuroyedov had ordered the cut in the side of the
    third section sealed and that an examination hole would be
    opened in the fourth section, behind it.

    Russia has not clarified what caused the blasts, although
    Kuroyedov has said a foreign submarine collided with the
    Kursk. Western officials have said the Kursk's own torpedoes
    probably exploded for an as yet unexplained reason.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register