Drama documentary captures emotional meeting of Russian submariners and their British saviours
Category: Factual & Arts TV; Scotland
Date: 04.01.2006
Printable version
A compelling drama documentary will capture the moment when seven Russian sailors finally said their personal thanks to the British team who saved them from death at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
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The Russian crew of the Priz submarine, which became snared in nets and cables in the Pacific Ocean off Siberia in August last year, were rushed to hospital immediately after the rescue.
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But the Russian sailors and their families told members of the rescue team of their heartfelt gratitude when they met in Petropavlovsk.
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The emotional encounter features at the end of Submarine Rescue (91Èȱ¬ ONE, Thursday 5 January, 9.00pm). Ìý
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Royal Navy Commander Ian Riches, who led the rescue team, and Stuart Gold, from James Fisher Rumic, the contractor which operates Scorpio, the high-tech undersea robot which released the Priz, travelled to Russia to meet the submariners for the first time.
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Cmdr Riches said he was delighted to get the chance to finally meet the people they saved.
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He said: "It closes a situation which had no ending. We had saved these guys, they're alive but we did not have the chance to shake their hands - until now." Ìý
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Stuart Gold said: "It was a disappointment that we could not meet them after the rescue, but this has made up for it. The significance of it all really hit home when the young son of one of the crew thanked us for saving his father's life."
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Almost five years to the day that the crew of the Kursk submarine had died following a delay in calling for international help, the Priz submarine became entangled in a mesh of old fishing lines and metal cables 190 metres down in the waters off the Kamchatcka pensinsula, Siberia.
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After a failed Russian attempt to save the Priz, an emergency alert went out on Friday 5 August last year and the British were the first to respond. Ìý
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Within hours, a top squad of nine Royal Navy contractors and their Scorpio rescue sub were mobilised from their base in Renfrew, Scotland, and flew halfway across the world. The team also included Pete Nuttall from Cumbria, who piloted the Scorpio. Ìý
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By the time they arrived, the seven-man crew - in a vessel designed for three - had been trapped for 72 hours with their resources and oxygen running out.
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They had just hours of air left. Ìý
The unfolding inside story of the race against time - and the struggle against the treacherous ocean and the dangerous mess of debris and metal - to rescue the Russian sailors will be illustrated in the hour-long documentary.
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The 91Èȱ¬ Scotland production team on the programme secured exclusive access to Russian military zones and previously unseen footage. The documentary also includes dramatic reconstructions of the twists and turns during the tense operation.
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Contributions from the Russian sailors will also give an exclusive insight that the waiting news media didn't see as the Priz crew struggled to keep their hopes alive for three days with an ocean on top of them. Ìý
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Submarine Rescue is a dramatic and uplifting docu-drama with a powerful and emotional climax. Scots actor Peter Capaldi (Local Hero, The Thick of It) narrates the dramatic story.
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JG2
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