Further details of the fire which crippled a Canadian submarine and claimed the life of one of its seamen, as well as the heroic rescue effort to return the vessel and its crew safely to shore, were expected to emerge today.

THE body of the Canadian seaman who died following a fire on the stricken submarine, Chicoutimi, was returned home yesterday after a joint Irish-Canadian military and religious service at Dublin Airport.

A stricken Canadian sub was today continuing its slow progress towards a naval base on the west coast of Scotland, four days after a fire left it paralysed in the mid-Atlantic.

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.