Video footage showed massive damage to the front and one side of the Kursk. Russian officials said some of the submarine’s compartments were flooded, and when rescuers eventually opened the rear escape hatch they found the whole vessel had filled with water. The reconnaissance tower was damaged and the covers of two missile tubes on the vessel's right side were missing. UK defence officials said a "high energy explosion" appeared to have hit an area from the nose to the central fin of the vessel. A Russian official said most of the crew were  in the part of the boat that was hit by the catastrophe .