AS the Russian submariners lay helpless at the bottom of the ocean with their oxygen supplies dwindling, 5000 miles away seven men were readying themselves in Renfrew.

Three days after becoming trapped, the seamen finally emerged yesterday, pale and shaken but managing smiles.

Their Scottish-based rescuers had, in the words of the Russian defence minister, acted in the spirit of "the brotherhood of the sea" in travelling halfway across the world to come to their aid.

Yelena Milashevsky, wife of Lieutenant Vyacheslav Milashevsky, the Russian submarine commander, said on hearing news of the successful rescue: "My feelings danced. I was happy, I cried."

In a phone call to John Reid, the defence secretary, Sergei Ivanov, his Russian counterpart, said: "The UK were the first to come, they played a crucial part and we do appreciate that.

"We have seen in deeds, not in words, what the brotherhood of the sea means."

When the Priz became snared in cables 600ft below the surface of Beryozovaya Bay, off the Kamchatka peninsula, on Friday, having learned lessons from the Kursk disaster, the Russian government appealed for international help.

The Japanese navy deployed four ships and the US flew in two remotelycontrolled submarines, but it was the crew from Renfrew that was first on the scene.

The men mobilised within hours of receiving the call and loaded their Scorpio 45, a remote-controlled submarine the size of a Smart car, on to an RAF transporter at Prestwick airport for the 10hour journey to Russia's Pacific coast.

The civilians, led by Stuart Gold from Edinburgh, carried out a flawless rescue operation which had the Russian sailors on the surface before the Japanese and American aid teams arrived.

They managed to cut the Priz free of the cables in which it had become entangled, allowing it to surface under its own power.

While trapped on the seabed, the Russian sailors were forced to put on thermal suits to protect them against temperatures of 5C, and were told to lie flat and breathe as lightly as possible. Even the submarine lights were turned off to conserve energy, and contact with the surface was sporadic.

Nevertheless, six of the sailors were fit enough to travel to a hospital on the mainland hours after being freed from the AS-28 mini submarine yesterday, and the seventh was treated on board a hospital ship.

The crew that carried out the rescue mission was from James Fisher Rumic, a company contracted by the Ministry of Defence to maintain and operate rescue submarines.

The company's base in Renfrew, close to the activities of British submarines in the Clyde, is home to the UK Submarine Rescue System (UKSRS).

It was the same crew that was eventually summoned, too late, by the Russian government five years ago, in a vain attempt to save the Kursk's 118 submariners.

In such emergencies, a speedy response is essential and the Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) team, comprising Mr Gold, the supervisor,

Charlie Sillett, also from Edinburgh, PeterNutall, Will Forrester, Nigel Pine and Alan Heslop mobilised as soon as they received the call on Friday.

The logistics of getting there and organising contact with the Russian authorities were taken care of by David Burke, from Glasgow, another Rumic employee.

They arrived at Prestwick airport at 11am on Friday, ahead of their craft, the Scorpio 45, and took off at 4pm, aboard an RAF C17 bound for PetropavlovskYelizovo, more than 5000 miles and a 10-hour flight away.

Martin Bullie, operations manager of UKSRS at Renfrew, said: "Part of what we do is to mobilise quickly.

In Renfrewwe are under contract to be out of the door in 12 hours or less, 365 days a year."

The team was accompanied by a number of Royal Navy personnel, including Commander Ian Riches, in overall command.

After landing in Russia, the Scorpio 45 had to be loaded on to transporters and taken by road to the port of Petropavlovsk six miles away and then welded on to the deck of a Russian cable-laying vessel before the six-hour trip to where the Priz lay.

Mr Bullie said: "You have the ROV on the seabed and attached to it is an umbilical cable to the surface.

"That umbilical cable then goes from the umbilical winch to the control container, where a two-man team within use cameras and video screens to control the Scorpio.After driving it to the area of work and selecting the best camera configuration, they carried out the work, using theirmanipulator and cutter.

"As I understand it, on their first dive they cut two wires, they returned it to the surface to make some adjustments to the hydraulic cutter, dived again very quickly and effected the third cut, which released the mini-sub."

After just five hours of work, the mini-submarine resurfaced.

John Reid said yesterday: "I am delighted we have been able to offer assistance to this rescue operation, which has been a fine example of international co-operation."

THE SCORPIO 45 It was originally developed for the oil and gas industries.

Modifications have allowed it to become a successful submarine rescue craft used by navies around the world.

It is unmanned and controlled by a crew via an umbilical cable from a mother ship.

The craft is used in situations that are considered too dangerous or deep for divers.

It is also used to recover torpedoes and mines.