Experts describe hell aboard the 'Kursk'

The 118 crew members of the doomed Kursk submarine died from a hellish combination of toxic gas and temperatures reaching many thousands of degrees centigrade, the Russian recovery team reported yesterday.

The 118 crew members of the doomed Kursk submarine died from a hellish combination of toxic gas and temperatures reaching many thousands of degrees centigrade, the Russian recovery team reported yesterday.

Forensic experts, working their way through the wreck in an unprecedented salvage operation, have recovered two more bodies, bringing the total to 19.

The nuclear submarine sank in the Barents Sea 14 months ago, after two unexplained explosions tore a hole in its bow section, starting a devastating fire on board.

Prosecutor-general Vladimir Ustinov, Russia's senior legal officer who is overseeing the investigation of the Kursk said: "I would like to stress that what was going on in the compartments was hell, a hell which you can only try to imagine." The submarine was entirely filled with water seven hours after the explosions.