“Kursk” Disaster: Memorial? Better sell it as Scrap Metal!

The sail (command tower) of the Russian submarine K-141 Kursk that sunk on 12 August 2000 was planned to become a memorial in Murmansk for the 118 submariners killed in that disaster. However, the journalist Tatyana Abramova from the newspaper Murmanskiy Vestnik  now discovered the sail at a scrap metal merchant.

According to the Russian TV station TV21, the sail had been sold as scrap metal already one year ago “by unknown persons”; refer to a video by Izwestia. The bulk of the sunk submarine’s hull was raised on 8 October 2001 and towed to Roslyakovo. The “Kursk” disaster was – besides the accident as such – a multifold debacle: Russia was not able to save its submariners; the relief operation was – to put it mildly- very chaotic; and even raising the hull had to be done by the Dutch companies Mammoet and Smit Internationale.

Until now, neither the Russian Northern Fleet, nor the authorities of Murmansk or any private donor was ready to take a share of the some 22,000 € estimated to build the memorial. Now, the commander of the Northern Fleet, Nikolay Maksimov gave the issue top priority: the memorial is to be made. Let us hope for the best.

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