Russia's new naval rescuers

Seals can be trained to recognise shapes

By Caroline Wyatt BBC Moscow correspondent

Russian scientists developing new search and rescue methods at sea have taken a more instinctive approach - with a group of Greenland seals.

The Kursk submarine disaster in Russia nearly two years ago prompted a radical rethink of how to carry out rescue operations under water.

[Seals] don't have the same inborn ability as dolphins to save people who are drowning but they can be taught

Alexander Mikhailyuk, scientist

Now scientists at Murmansk's Marine Biological Academy are reviving a Soviet-era project in which seals were to have been trained to help divers.

That plan was eventually abandoned through lack of money.

Russia's Navy seals bear little resemblance to their elite American Navy Seals counterparts.

They are plump and grey, and the only reward they get for a hard day's training is a bucket of fish.

But scientists in Murmansk are convinced that one day their Greenland seals could save lives.

Deep-sea divers

Four animals are now learning skills such as recognising shapes so they can identify humans under water.

The Kursk accident prompted a rethink in underwater rescue

Alexander Mikhailyuk, of the Murmansk academy, says the idea is not as far-fetched as it sounds.

"Our experience shows that seals can rescue people. They don't have the same inborn ability as dolphins to save people who are drowning but they can be taught - and the main thing is that seals are not aggressive towards human beings," he said.

Their tests have shown that the animals can work in much colder water than dolphins and can dive nearly eight times deeper than human rescue workers.

They can be equipped with special rescue harnesses which people can grab on to, or to which devices can be attached.

Now the project will go to the Russian Navy for final approval.