72 Hours

5 August 2005. While conducting a secret mission thirty miles off the remote cost of Kamchatka, the Russian Navy submarine AS-28 became snared in the thick cables anchored to 60-tonne concrete blocks. Without power the stricken boat sunk to the seafloor. Trapped 600 feet down-too deep to escape-her crew of seven now had just seventy two hours before the air onboard ran out. Twenty-four hours later, after the failure of the Russian Navy's attempt to rescue them, Commander Ian Riches, boss of the Royal Navy's Submarine rescue team, got the call: there was a sub down, and the clock was ticking. In the mean time, the crew onboard AS-28 climb into thick thermal suits to keep the freezing cold at bay and wait, desperate to eke out the stale thin air inside the pressure-hull of their submarine. But as the first of them begins to drift in and out of consciousness, they knew their time was running out. 72 Hours tells the story of an extraordinary, edge-of-the-seat real-life drama. It's the gripping, inside story of one of the most dramatic rescue attempts of recent years, by the man who led it.

Author Biography

Frank Pope is Ocean Correspondent of The Times. He has worked on underwater expeditions all over the world under the auspices of Oxford MARE (Maritime archaeological Research and Excavation Unit), including the salvage of Admiral Lord Nelson's flagship HMS Agamemnon. He divides his time between London and Nairobi. Commander Ian Riches RN was leader of the Royal Navy's Submarine Rescue Service in 2005. On permanent standby, the team of six, based at Renfrew in Scotland, was ready to mobilize to be anywhere in the world within 12 hours. A posting to NATO followed his time with the Submarine Rescue Service. Frank Pope is Ocean Correspondent of THE TIMES. He has worked on underwater expeditions all over the world under the auspices of Oxford MARE (Maritime archaeological Research and Excavation Unit), including the salvage of Admiral Lord Nelson's flagship HMS Agamemnon. He divides his time between London and Nairobi.