55 Chinese sailors feared dead after submarine stuck in its own ‘trap’

As many as 55 Chinese sailors are feared dead after a nuclear-powered submarine caught itself in a ‘chain and anchor’ trap in the Yellow Sea, located between mainland China and Korean peninsula, designed for foreign vessels, the UK’s daily Daily Mail reported citing a leaked intelligence report. It is said that the incident took place on August 21.

According to the report, the captain of the Chinese Navy’s ‘093-417’ submarine along with 21 other officers were among those dead. The cause of death was reported due to the failure of the vessel’s oxygen system.

“It is believed that their deaths were caused by hypoxia resulting from a system failure on the submarine. The submarine collided with a chain and anchor obstacle used by the Chinese Navy to trap US and allied submarines, leading to system failures that took six hours to repair and bring the vessel to the surface. The onboard oxygen system malfunctioned catastrophically,” the highly-classified report said.

Daily Mail said that China has officially denied the occurence of the incident, as well as refused to seek international assistance for the stranded submarine. However, there is no independent confirmation of the loss of Chinese submarine in the public domain.