Chinese sailors feared dead after nuclear submarine gets stuck underwater: reports
Western intelligence reports say 55 Chinese sailors are dead after a nuclear submarine became trapped underwater — but China denies it.
There are 55 Chinese sailors feared dead after their nuclear submarine reportedly got stuck underwater.
A report by UK intelligence experts said the sub hit a “chain and anchor” trap intended to snare Western vessels lurking off China’s Shandong province.
The crew reportedly suffocated after a “catastrophic failure” of the 107m sub’s oxygen system, The Sun reports.
It is not clear whether the trap mangled the oxygen system, or if the crew had already suffocated before the sub sank and became stuck.
The vessel is believed to be a cutting-edge Type 093 equipped with torpedoes and silent “ghost” engines.
A classified briefing obtained by the Mail reads: “Intelligence reports that on 21st of August there was an on-board accident while carrying out a mission in the Yellow Sea.
“Incident happened at 08.12 local resulting in the death of 55 crew members: 22 officers, 7 officer cadets, 9 petty officers, 17 sailors.
“Dead include the captain Colonel Xue Yong-Peng.
“Our understanding is death caused by hypoxia due to a system fault on the submarine.
“The submarine hit a chain and anchor obstacle used by the Chinese navy to trap US and allied submarines.
“This resulted in systems failures that took six hours to repair and surface the vessel.
“The on-board oxygen system poisoned the crew after a catastrophic failure.”
The British Royal navy declined to comment.
Beijing claimed the news of the sub’s destruction is “completely false”, further deepening the mystery.
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission
Originally published as Chinese sailors feared dead after nuclear submarine gets stuck underwater: reports
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