China‘s Nuclear Submarine suffers catastrophic failure. A nuclear-powered submarine sank after being caught in a trap meant for American and British vessels, killing 55 Chinese soldiers, according to a UK-based report.
The Times cited leaked intelligence reports from the British government.
According to the outlet’s report, the incident happened in the Yellow Sea. Taiwan and China, however, both refuted the submarine’s loss.
However, the PLA Navy submarine was identified as 093-417 in the British intelligence report, which also stated that on August 21, the crew was poisoned due to a catastrophic failure.
The report also stated that the captain and 21 officers were among the fatalities.
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According to a report in The Times, the ship was said to have run out of oxygen near Shandong province, which is located north of Shanghai, after becoming entangled in seabed defences put in place by its own forces.
“Our understanding is death caused by hypoxia (lack of oxygen) due to a system fault on the submarine,” it quoted British intelligence officials as saying in the report.
“The submarine hit a chain and anchor obstacle used by the Chinese navy to trap US and allied submarines. This resulted in system failures that took six hours to repair and surface the vessel. The on-board oxygen system poisoned the crew after a catastrophic failure,” it added.
The intelligence was highly secret, and there will probably be an investigation into leaks.
As China’s Nuclear Submarine suffers catastrophic failure, more than a month ago, rumors about the incident involving the Shang-class submarine started to circulate on social media, but Beijing quickly shot them down.
Six Type-093 attack submarines with a displacement of 6,096 tonnes and 553mm torpedoes are possessed by China. The Times reported that the nuclear-powered submarines, which were made to be quieter than earlier models, only recently entered service.
