The submarine was built in 1997 at the Saint Petersburg’s Admiralty Wharf.
Arun Prakash, a former Indian navy chief, said the prospect of survivors appeared unlikely.
“There is a possibility that these 18 crewmen may have sealed themselves off in some part of the submarine and they may still have survived,” he told the CNN-IBN news channel.
“Otherwise with this massive explosion chances don’t look very bright,” he added.
Rahul Bedi, a defence expert with IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly, told AFP the 16 year old submarine lacked some modern safety features common to newer vessels even after its $80 million overhaul.
“They don’t have escape routes in the event of accidents unlike some of the modern submarines,” he said.
The Indian navy says it has a total of 14 submarines but only between seven and nine are operational at any point because of regular repair and refitting operations.
The disaster had echoes of a tragedy in Russia in 2000 when the Kursk nuclear submarine sank in the Barents Sea with the loss of all 118 crew on board.
Russia is still the biggest military supplier to India, but relations have been strained recently by major delays and cost over runs with a refurbished aircraft carrier, the INS Vikramaditya.
The accident is set to overshadow scheduled talks between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a G20 summit in St. Petersburg in September.
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