Russian mini-subs reach North Pole seabed

Two deep-diving Russian miniature submarines today descended more than two and a half miles to the ocean floor beneath the North Pole, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

Expedition leader Artur Chilingarov, who was aboard the MIR 1 three-person sub, told colleagues on a research ship on the surface that his craft had reached the seabed. “The landing was smooth, the yellowish ground is around us, no sea dwellers are seen,” he said, according to Tass.