Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin has revealed he may divert from his first major foreign tour to visit a hospital in Ireland where Canadian sailors were being treated after being rescued from a disabled submarine. But the detour depends on whether the sailors are well enough to see him.

A rescue operation to tow a stricken Canadian submarine to safety started tonight, as a second crewman remained in a critical condition.

Rescue tugs are on the way to a stricken Canadian submarine stranded off the north-west coast after one of her crew lost his life to the catastrophe.

A member of the crew of stricken Canadian submarine HMCS Chicoutimi died in Sligo General Hospital late last night.