It was the 12th of August of 2000 that in the Barren Sea a tragedy with the nuclear submarine Kursk happened. There has been so much that united two Kursks ö the town and the submarine. The history of the relation began on the 18th of March of 1991 when a crew of the submarine K141 was formed. April the 26th the submarine got its name Kursk in honor of our town. In 1994 the submarine was launched, and in 1995 took its place in the northern fleet of the Russian Navy. In the same year the submarine crew was visited by the official delegation from our town. In March of 1995 the bishop Ioan blessed the submarine and its crew. Since than town Kursk had a connection to the submarine constantly. From our town and Kursk region to Severomorsk, the base of the northern fleet, went supply of warm cloths and fruits. The members of the submarine crew and their families were very welcome to Kursk land; at the same time, for Kursk people to serve there was a great honor. Nobody could imagine that such tragedy was possible. That is why the words of the Bulgarian predictor ö Vanga were not taken seriously. In 1980 she had said that Kursk would go under water in August of 1999 or 2000. It is nonsense to believe that town which is situated far from any seas or big rivers can sink. The last heavy tragedy with submarines of the USSR had happened to K278 Komsomolec on the 7th of April of 1989 in the Norwegian Sea. That time there had been 42 dead. Now, they are 118. 7 of them were citizens of Kursk and Kursk region. Letās remember them:
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Anenkov Yuriy Anatolevich
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Evdokimov Oleg Vladimirovich
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Kubikov Roman Vladimirovich
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Kuznetsov Viktor Viktorovich
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Nekrasov Aleksey Nikolaevich
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Staroseltsev Dmitriy Vyachislavovich
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Hivuk Vladimir Vladimirovich
From the end of October to the beginning of November in the Barren Sea there was an operation of lifting the bodies of the sunken submarine Kursk crew. The 3rd of November was the mourning day in our town - the day of the funeral of Kuznetsov Viktor. The funeral ceremony took place by the monument that had been built on the 40th day after the tragedy, in honor of Kursk citizens - members of the submarine Kursk crew.
The gubernator of Kursk Rutskoy V. promised, that all families of the submarine crew who need accommodation can get it in Kursk. Moreover, there will be a monument built, and one of Kursk streets will get a name in honor of our seamen.
We, kursk citizens, are very grateful to everybody who helped. We were not forgotten by the friends from Germany, from Witten. They provided help directly to the families of the crew.
