Russian investigators have uncovered a key recording device from the wreck of the Kurskthat they hope will reveal what caused the nuclear submarine to sink last year.
"The information that this instrument contains can help the investigation to establish what underwater objects were in the zone and what their role was in the catastrophe," Mr Oleg Goncharov, a member of the military prosecutor's investigation team said.
The apparatus, a nautical equivalent of a "black box", records underwater sounds near and around the submarine and was found in the Kursk'shyrdoacoustics chamber.
However, it was badly damaged in the explosion and investigators may have difficulty in accessing the information it holds, Mr Goncharov added.
A first "black box" was found in the Kurskin October, when the submarine was towed to dry-dock near the northern Russian city of Murmansk.
Also today, the deputy prime minister in charge of the Kurskinvestigation, Mr Ilia Klebanov, said the investigative commission had "a lot of indirect proof" that a collision with a foreign submarine had provoked the Kurskdisaster.
Vice Admiral Mikhail Motsak, commander of the Northern fleet, said in an interview with Izvestiatoday that listening devices had detected a second submarine near the Kurskbefore the disaster.
Russian investigators have held to three theories into the sinking of the Kursk: a collision with another submarine, an explosion of a defective torpedo, or collision with a WWII mine.
Once the pride of the Russian navy, the Kursksank to the bottom of the Barents Sea with the loss of all 118 on board after a series of unexplained explosions on August 12 last year.
It was towed to dry-dock last month, after being refloated in a major international salvage operation.
AFP