Russian Sub Crew Safe, Thankful

Rescued Sailors Reported In 'Satisfactory' Condition

(CBS/AP)  The seven men endured darkness and frigid temperatures for three days until their Russian mini-submarine was freed Sunday from the Pacific floor by a British remote-controlled vehicle as oxygen supplies dwindled.

"It was cold, cold, very cold. I can't even describe it," one crew member with reddish hair said as the sailors walked ashore with dazed looks and bloodshot eyes after their vessel was cut loose from cables that had snagged it.

The men aboard the AS-28 mini-submarine — six sailors and a representative of the company that made the ship — had opened the hatch and climbed out without assistance, officials said.

Six were taken to a hospital on the mainland for examination, waving to relatives as they went in. The seventh was kept aboard a hospital ship for unspecified reasons. They appeared to be in "satisfactory" condition, naval spokesman Capt. Igor Dygalo said.

At the edge of the gangplank leading off the ship that brought the crew to shore, the submarine's commander Lt. Vyacheslav Milashevsky held a long and solemn salute, then a slight smile crossed his face.

He was pale but told journalists he felt "fine" before climbing into a van with the others for the trip to the hospital. Another crew member in the van looked from side to side, gazing at the green trees and gray skies.

Milashevsky's wife, Yelena, said earlier that she was overjoyed at news the crew had been rescued. "My feelings danced. I was happy, I cried," she told Channel One television.

The United States had also sent remote-controlled underwater vehicles for the rescue, but they arrived several hours after the British vehicle and were not used.

"I can only thank our English colleagues for their joint work and the help they gave in order to complete this operation within the time we had available, that is, before the oxygen reserves ran out," Rear Adm. Vladimir Pepelyayev, deputy head of the navy's general staff, told reporters in Moscow.

Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, who went to Kamchatka to supervise the operation, praised the international efforts and said, "We have seen in deeds, not in words, what the brotherhood of the sea means."

President Vladimir Putin had made no public comment about the mini-sub drama by Sunday afternoon.