55 Chinese sailors dead as submarine gets stuck in trap for foreign vessels: UK Report

Concerns are growing that 55 Chinese sailors may have died tragically as a result of a mishap involving their nuclear submarine in what looks to be an effort to ambush US and UK subsurface warships.

 

According to a classified UK investigation, the crew is likely to have died as a result of the submarine's oxygen supply failing catastrophically in August of this year, resulting in onboard poisoning. The commander of the Chinese PLA Navy submarine '093-417,' together with 21 other personnel onboard in the Yellow Sea, is apparently among the fatalities.

 

 

 

According to the UK assessment, "Intelligence reports that on the 21st of August there was an onboard accident while carrying out a mission in the Yellow Sea."

 

At 08.12 a.m. local time, the catastrophe happened, killing 55 crew members: 22 officers, 7 officer cadets, 9 petty officers, and 17 sailors. Colonel Xue Yong-Peng, the captain, was among those killed. According to our knowledge, death was caused by hypoxia triggered by a system failure on the submarine."

 

The article goes on to recount the sequence of events, indicating that the submarine collided with a chain and anchor barrier set up by the Chinese Navy to catch US and NATO submarines. This collision caused system faults that required six hours to rectify, allowing the ship to resurface. Following this catastrophic breakdown, the onboard oxygen system is thought to have poisoned the crew.

 

The Type 093 submarines, spanning 351 feet in length and equipped with torpedoes, are considered some of China's more sophisticated submarines. They are well-known for their minimal noise emissions. The event is alleged to have happened in waters off the coast of China's Shandong Province.

 

While no official confirmation of the Chinese submarine's loss is now available, Beijing has dismissed open-source conjecture about the event as 'absolutely incorrect.' Taiwan has likewise refuted the incident's allegations. The Royal Navy declined to comment on the highly confidential assessment, which is based on defense information.