Citing ‘secret UK intel report’, Daily Mail says 21 Aug incident involved 22 officers, 7 officer cadets, 9 petty officers & 17 sailors aboard submarine ‘093-417’. China has denied incident.
As many as 55 Chinese sailors are feared dead as their nuclear submarine got caught in a trap meant for American and allied submarines in the Yellow Sea way back in August, according to a report published Tuesday in the UK’s Daily Mail.
The report, which said, “The onboard oxygen system poisoned the crew after a catastrophic failure”, came weeks after the Chinese military denied such an incident after several social media handles posted about it.
Drawing from what was described as “secret UK report” based on defence intelligence, the Daily Mail claimed the 21 August incident involved 22 officers, seven officer cadets, nine petty officers and 17 sailors aboard the Chinese PLA Navy Submarine, ‘093-417’.
‘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,” it quoted the report as saying.