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The Scorpio had to be briefly resurfaced after it developed a technical problem, and then it descended again and freed the Russian vehicle within an hour, according to Cmdr. Mark McDonald, a spokesman for the United States Pacific Fleet. The vessel then quickly rose to the surface. Shortly before the snag developed, Commander McDonald said, the British submersible had clipped one of possibly five sections of a discarded fishing net that had fouled the propeller of the Russian submarine.
Commander McDonald also said British and American officials at the scene indicated it was just the fishing net that had ensnared the mini-submarine, and that it was not caught on the antenna and cables of a antisubmarine surveillance system, as the Russians had announced.
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