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New evidence suggests that the Kursk, Russia’s ill-fated submarine that sank
in the Barents Sea last August, was holed by an explosion—not a collision.
American seismologists working at the University of Arizona and Los Alamos
National Laboratory picked up seismic signals from 5000 kilometres away that
clearly indicate the Kursk suffered two explosions. The first was probably
caused by a torpedo misfiring, rupturing the submarine’s hull. The second, some
250 times more powerful, occurred 135 seconds later, probably when fire ignited
other weaponry.

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