SEVEROMORSK. Jan 10 (Interfax-Northwest) - One more crewmember of the nuclear submarine Kursk has been identified at the navy hospital in Severomorsk in northwest Russia.
Military Prosecutor of the Russian Northern Fleet Vladimir Mulov told Interfax on Thursday that the body of Warrant Officer Sergei Keslinsky was identified.
The body was retrieved from the third section of the sub. According to regulations, Keslinsky, a launch team technician, was supposed to be in the second section.
His parents and widow came to Severomorsk from Kostroma for the identification.
Lieutenant Captain Alexei Shevchuk was identified on Wednesday. On Thursday, his body was sent from Severomorsk to Voronezh, where his parents have been provided with housing.
Mulov said investigators and workers from the Roslyakovo ship-repair plant where the Kursk is located will continue clearing debris in the third section of the sub.
On Thursday, they "tore off the partitions between parts of the section, and removed a metal part that threatened the progress of the operation."
In a special effort conducted from October 21 to November 7, 2000, Russian and Norwegian deep sea divers recovered 12 bodies from the ninth section of the submarine, which was lying on the seabed at a depth of over 100 meters.
The following year, divers separated the first torpedo section, which had been almost completely destroyed in the accident. On October 8, 2001, the submarine was lifted from the seabed and towed in a submerged position to the floating dock of Roslyakovo by the Giant-4 barge. It was placed in the dock on October 21.
Since then, 79 bodies have been recovered from the Kursk, and 75 have been identified.
The actual cause of the sinking of the Kursk has not yet been officially announced.