Valery Dorogin of the Investigation Commission says there must have been two explosions in the submarine. Torpedo fuel components blew up and caused another explosion. Submariners in the aft compartments were killed instantly and the rest eventually died of asphyxia.

The initial explosion might have been caused by a collision with some other object or by the faulty torpedo itself, Dorogin said. The Investigation Commission denounces the hypothesis that the Kursk was killed by a volley from the ASW ship Pyotr Veliky.