Storm break boosts Kursk operation

The plan: A barge will raise the Kursk, leaving the nose on the seabed

MOSCOW, Russia -- Divers are attaching huge cables to the wreck of the nuclear submarine Kursk ahead of a planned attempt to raise the vessel later this week.

Captain Vladimir Navrotsky spokesman for the Russian Northern Fleet, said the actual lifting operation could begin as early as Thursday.

The Kursk -- one of Russia most modern nuclear-powered submarines -- sank in August 2000, killing all 118 sailors on board, while on exercises in the Barents Sea.

Bad weather and technical problems have already forced back the original timetable for lifting the Kursk but Navrotsky said the pace could be stepped up now conditions have improved.

Navrotsky said on Russian TV: "The weather has just begun to create normal conditions for the work."

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He said the first two of 26 cables were attached to the Kursk late on Monday and that the entire operation would take at least two days. The actual raising of the Kursk is expected to take another 12 hours if the weather holds.

The Dutch Mammoet-Smit International consortium responsible for raising the Kursk had been concerned that a storm could have knocked the Giant 4 barge off its position above the submarine, The Associated Press reported.

But the divers laying the first cables found the barge, which will hoist the Kursk, to the surface had remained in place during the storm.

Navrotsky said that having the barge in exactly the right spot was critical to the computer-controlled lifting operation.

Russian officials have the Kursk sank after a faulty torpedo set off a series of explosions last August -- but what caused the initial blast remains a mystery.

Once it is raised, the Kursk's body will be transported to a dry dock, where experts are to examine the wreck for clues as to what caused Russia's worst naval disaster.

But time is running out for the lifting operation. The Barents Sea storm season, which begins during October, could rule out further attempts to raise the submarine until after the winter.