Relatives Of Kursk Submarine Sailors Mark 17th Anniversary Of Disaster

Relatives and friends of crew members gathered for a memorial service and a commemorative meeting at St. Petersburg’s Serafimovskoye Cemetery. (file photo(

Residents of St. Petersburg have paid homage to sailors from the Kursk nuclear submarine, which sank in the Barents Sea exactly 17 years earlier.

Relatives and friends of crew members gathered for a memorial service and a commemorative meeting on August 12 at St. Petersburg’s Serafimovskoye Cemetery.

All 118 crew members aboard the nuclear-powered Kursk submarine died on August 12, 2000, after an explosion occurred as the crew was preparing to fire a practice torpedo.

The Russian Navy's final official report concluded that the explosion was caused by the failure of a torpedo.

The Kursk was raised from the bottom of the Barents Sea in 2001.

Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax