55 CHINESE sailors are feared dead after their nuclear submarine reportedly got stuck underwater.
A report by UK intelligence experts said that the sub hit a “chain and anchor” trap intended to snare Western vessels lurking off China’s Shandong province.
ReutersA Chinese sub reportedly sank in the Yellow Sea[/caption]
The crew reportedly suffocated after a “catastrophic failure” of the 351ft sub’s oxygen system.
It is not clear whether the trap mangled the oxygen system – or if the crew had already suffocated before the sub sank and got stuck.
The sub 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 onboard accident whilst 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 onboard oxygen system poisoned the crew after a catastrophic failure.”
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The Royal Navy declined to comment.
Beijing claimed that the news of the sub’s destruction is “completely false” – further deepening the mystery.
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