More Kursk fragments recovered

The recovered fragments are due to arrive in St. Petersburg for analysis

MOSCOW, Russia -- A Russian navy salvage team has recovered some wreckage of the sunken Kursk nuclear submarine from the Barents Sea.

Officials were forced to halt the operation after the onset of gales.

Deputy Chief Naval Officer Rear Admiral Mikhail Barskov said the mission would resume as soon as the waters calmed down.

The Kursk was one of Russia's most powerful nuclear submarines. It sank following an explosion during naval exercises in August 2000, killing all 118 people aboard.

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Barskov told the Interfax-Military news agency that fragments of the stricken ship's hull and torpedo could shed more light on the cause of the disaster.

He pledged to work until the team had retrieved as many pieces of the first section as possible.

The bulk of the Kursk wreckage was lifted in an international operation last October, including the remains of 115 victims.

Interfax reported that Ilya Klebanov -- Russia's minister for industry, science and technology in charge of the Kursk investigation -- said the government would announce the final verdict on the cause of the disaster next month.

Initially officials said the Kursk might have exploded after colliding with a Western submarine.

But later reports said a faulty practice torpedo was the more likely cause. All such weapons have since been removed from navy submarines.

The government has yet to explain what might have caused the torpedo itself to explode.