A remote-controlled British submersible is cutting debris ensnaring a Russian submarine, in a struggle to save seven crew members before their oxygen runs out.
Rescue teams plan to raise the submarine that has been trapped in the depths of the Pacific Ocean for almost three days.
Russian Rear Admiral Vladimir Pepelyayev has said there might be enough air to last the crew through Sunday.
The United States and Japan are also rushing crews and vessels to the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's far east, where the submarine has been trapped almost 200 meters below the ocean's surface.
The incident comes nearly five years after a Russian nuclear submarine, the Kursk, sank in the Barents Sea following an explosion. All 118 men men on board died.
Some information for this report provided by AFP and Reuters.
