The official news comes as no real surprise, but it remains disappointing. Norwegian divers on Monday unlatched the hatch of the sunken Russian submarine Kursk and found a flooded, mangled mess. And, they found no survivors among the 118 men on board the vessel.

For more than a week now, we’ve watched the tragedy unfold from afar: A military submarine, on a training excercise, sinks in a matter of minutes. More than a week passes with rescue attempts thwarted by weather and the sea, and a typical Russian government trying to remain mum about the circumstances and the scope of the catastrophe.

The reality is that these sailors probably died within minutes of the explosion that sent their sub sinking in the Arctic Sea. But, their families and friends had to endure a painful week of clinging to hope before they could bring closure to this tragedy.

It’s easy from our perch halfway around the world to find fault — to say that the Russian leaders waited too long to seek outside help; that they have done too little for the grieving families of the sailors on board the vessel; that they have added to the scope of this disaster.

But no matter what our political bias on the issue, we cannot ignore the poignant reality of this tragedy, and we cannot help but feel sorrow for these people.

More than 115 sailors –&160;Russians, yes, but most important humans — are lost to the sea. Their families and friends’ lives were tragically altered in a matter of moments — only to have the agony prolonged through more than a week of high-profile failed rescue attempts.

We may be a world apart — politically, economically, even geographically — but we share the same human spirit. And today, that spirit is in mourning.