A file photo of a Russian 1960's era November class nuclear submarine, similar to the sunken K-159

MOSCOW, August 30 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - At least two Russian sailors died and seven more were missing when a Russian nuclear submarine went down in the northwestern Barents Sea early Saturday, August 30, according to a defense ministry spokesman.

Of the 10 crew members aboard the vessel at the time, two bodies have been retrieved and one sailor rescued alive, Agence France-Presse (AFP) quoted Colonel Nikolay Deryabin as briefing reporters.

The submarine - a November class K-159 - sank at 4:00 am (0000 GMT) Saturday, Moscow time, Deryabin said, adding that rescue efforts were continuing.

Earlier reports quoting a Northern sea fleet official had said the submarine had been carrying 12 crew.

The commander in chief of Russia's northern fleet, Admiral Vladimir Kouroedov, was ordered to the site of the disaster by Defense Minister Serguei Ivanov in order to "shed light on the reasons and the implications of the sinking and to supervise rescue operations," Interfax news agency reported.

President Vladimir Putin, currently visiting Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi in the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, "was informed on the spot", the Kremlin press office said.

The submarine had been decommissioned in 1989 and was being towed to a point where it was to be dismantled when the accident happened, Deryabin said.

He said the submarine's nuclear reactor had been neutralized before the vessel went down, and that the sub was not carrying any weapons at the time.

"The submarine's nuclear reactor had been brought to a secure state and the ammunition had been unloaded from it," Deryabin said.

For his part, Kravchenko said the submarine's two nuclear reactors had been shut down in 1989 and Russian officials said there were no weapons on board the vessel and there was no danger of nuclear contamination.

The northern fleet's military prosecutor had opened an inquiry into the accident.

In August 2000, the nuclear submarine Kursk sank in the Barents sea with 118 crew, who all perished in Russia's worst naval disaster.