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- ISRAEL - A former commander of the Israeli navy, Michael Barkai, has
committed suicide shortly after the discovery of the wreckage of a submarine
in which his brother died 31 years ago.
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- The BBC's Hilary Andersson: "Israel
has been obsessed with this story"Mr Barkai, who distinguished himself
in the October 1973, served as an admiral from 1976 until 1979.
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- His family said he had terminal cancer
and might already have been contemplating suicide when he heard on Friday
that a search team had located the submarine Dakar, which sank in 1968
with 69 Israeli crewmen on board.
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- He then shot himself shortly after hearing
the news.
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- Mr Barkai's brother, Avraham, was deputy
commander of the Dakar when it disappeared in the Mediterranean on a voyage
from Britain to Israel.
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- Deep sea grave
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- The submarine was discovered by an American
marine research company off the Greek island of Crete at a depth of about
two miles.
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- Israel has spent millions of dollars
on repeated attempts to locate the submarine and families of the crewmen
have pressured the authorities to recover their loved-ones remains for
burial.
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- The Dakar disappeared in 1968 during
its voyage from Plymouth in the UK to Haifa, Israel.
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- Its loss sparked speculation that it
may have been sunk by Soviet or Egyptian torpedoes.
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- Water pressure
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- An alternative theory is that it dived
too deep and was crushed by massive water pressure.
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- The Israeli Navy confirmed that a large
hole had been found in the Dakar's hull, but said that it could still not
determine the cause of the sinking.
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- Correspondents say the news of the Dakar's
discovery has been given almost blanket coverage by the Israeli media.
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- Outgoing Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu
used one of his last cabinet meetings to press the navy to recover the
wreck, but experts say that the submarine lies beyond the reach of current
salvage technology.
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