Missiles, Five Bodies Removed From Kursk

Three cruise missiles, data recorders and five more bodies were pulled from the carcass of the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk, while a top Cabinet official said investigators were getting closer to learning what caused the disaster.

Deputy Prime Minister Ilya I. Klebanov, who is in charge of the salvage effort, said the explosions that sank the Kursk on Aug. 12, 2000, killing its crew of 118, could have been caused by three things: an internal malfunction in a torpedo, a collision with another vessel or a World War II underwater mine.

Klebanov said a dent on the Kursk’s side could be either the trace of a collision or the result of an internal explosion so powerful it could have caused the submarine’s double hull to cave inward, making it look like an outside impact.