MURMANSK. Oct 15 (Interfax-Northwest) - Preparations to put pontoons under the Giant-4 barge with the attached Kursk submarine continues with engineers of the Roslyakovo ship-repair plant and the Northern Fleet's rescue service taking part in remedying what a fleet headquarters official described as "minor design flaws."
In effect, it would be premature to say that the pontoons have been put in place, he said.
The Kursk sank on August 12, 2000 during a Northern Fleet exercise in the Barents Sea. None of the 118 men on board survived. Divers removed the bodies of 12 sailors last October. On October 8 the submarine, minus its cut-off bow, was raised from the seabed and towed to the Kola Bay where it will be moved to a floating dock.