The Tiger, which was worth about $450,000, was lost in the Barents Sea in August 2003 when it was inspecting the K-159 submarine, which had sunk while being towed to Polyarny (northwestern Russia) for decommissioning. Nine members of the 10-man submarine crew died in the incident.
Meanwhile, military prosecutors with the Pacific Fleet have charged the captain of the Georgy Kozmin rescue ship, which was involved in the effort to rescue the AS-28 Priz deep-sea submersible in the Pacific Ocean near Kamchatka in August 2005, with negligence.
According to prosecutors, the Venom remotely operated deep-sea vessel was damaged and became inoperable on the first day of the rescue operation due to a lack of professionalism on the part of the rescue team. The Russian Navy commissioned the vessel after the Kursk disaster.
The damage was put at hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The AS-28 deep-sea vessel with seven sailors on board was stranded at the depth of about 190 (620 feet) meters in the Barents Sea on August 4. The rescue operation lasted for three days. On August 7, the vessel and its crew were safely brought to the surface after the British Scorpio 45 robot craft cut through the nets and cables.
