Norwegian camera team captures images of submarine rescue operation

CNN EXCLUSIVE VIDEO CNN exclusive: Two Norwegians fly into restricted air space to photograph the Russian submarine rescue scene Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)

TRONDHEIM, Norway (CNN) -- A Norwegian free-lance camera team has flown over the zone where rescue ships are trying to aid a stricken nuclear submarine that rests at the bottom of the Barents Sea.

The team shot exclusive footage of a Russian cruiser and two destroyers which are part of the flotilla of lead ships in the rescue area. The video shows four ships, but Pilot Sigurd Henriksen and photographer Anders Loberg say there were many other ships in the area, possibly up to 10 or 20.

Russian officials said on Wednesday they had 22 ships involved in the rescue operation.

One ship came towards them as they flew over. "We found the whole situation very uncomfortable," Henriksen said.

It took them one hour to get to the location. They were flying a Piper Navajo twin engine plane and flew very close to the water, as low as 10 feet above, to avoid radar.

The men flew into the Russian military's self-imposed restricted area to get their footage, and they said they were over the restricted area for about four minutes.

Henriksen and Loberg are based in Bergen, Norway.

The flight took off from Valdo, Norway and flew 200 nautical miles to the rescue area, some 120 kilometers (80 miles) northeast of Murmansk, Russia.

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