55 Chinese sailors are killed in a submarine accident. The Beijing authorities do not recognize this fact and do not provide any information about the disaster.
According to the newspaper’s sources, which rely on British intelligence, the Chinese Navy submarine 093-417 was shipwrecked, killing 55 Chinese sailors, including Captain Xue Yong-Peng, 21 officers, seven cadets, nine petty officers and 17 sailors.
According to the British mission report, which is classified, the accident occurred on August 21 in the Yellow Sea when the submarine got stuck in chain and anchor obstacles that China used to detain US and allied submarines.
“We understand that the death was caused by hypoxia due to a systemic failure on the submarine. The submarine crashed into a chain and anchor obstacle used by the Chinese navy to capture US and allied submarines. This led to systemic failures that required six hours for the crew to repair and surface. The on-board oxygen system poisoned the crew due to a critical malfunction,” the report says.
The Chinese authorities deny the incident and have not requested international assistance for their damaged vessel. Beijing calls this “pure fiction,” and Taiwan also rejects this information.
The British submariner provided the following explanation: “It is entirely plausible that this happened, and I doubt the Chinese would have asked for international support for obvious reasons. If they got into the grid system and the submarine’s batteries were low (which is likely), then eventually the air purifiers and air purification systems could have failed. Which would have reverted to secondary systems and subsequently and probably not been able to maintain air. Which led to asphyxiation or poisoning.”
The sinking is believed to have occurred off the coast of China’s Shandong province.
Chinese Type 093 submarines are about 15 years old. They are 351 feet long and equipped with torpedoes. The Type 093 is one of China’s most advanced submarines, characterized by low noise levels.
What preceded it
China has used a “floating barrier” in the South China Sea near the Philippines to block their fishermen from accessing the sea and working. The barrier was placed after the Philippines inspected the area the day before and found damaged coral and marine ecosystem. They accused China of this – but the Chinese called it “ridiculous.”
