Investigators think the Kursk submarine sank following two explosions in the forward portion of the vessel, Russian Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov said this afternoon.
"The investigators believe that the sub's sinking was caused by the second explosion, which took place 135 seconds following the first one," Ustinov told the Interfax news agency.
But he said the cause of the Kursk disaster was still under investigation.
"It is not a final conclusion, just one of the versions," Interfax quoted Ustinov as saying. "But the visit to the sub and work aboard it again convinced us that this version may be the true one."
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov said yesterday that investigators had uncovered "a lot of new evidence" and could provide a final explanation for why the submarine sank. The nuclear-powered submarine sank to the bottom of the Barents Sea on August 12th last year during a naval exercise.
Naval officials have previously said that the cause of the disaster may not be known until the Kursk's bow, which was sliced off for security reasons and left at the bottom of the sea, is raised some time next year.
The 18,000-tonne wreck was raised from the seabed on October 8th following an unprecedented three-month operation costing some $65 million and towed into dry dock at Roslyakovo, near the northwestern port of Murmansk.
Interfax said meanwhile that 47 of the 55 bodies recovered from the wreck since then have been identified and 45 of those have been returned to families for burial.
AFP