London: An undisclosed UK defence report said at least 55 Chinese sailors, including the captain and 21 officers, may have died due to a 'catastrophic failure' in the vessel's oxygen systems, media reported. China, however, denied the report.
The ill-fated Chinese submarine was '093-417' that sailed in the Yellow Sea. According to the report, everyone aboard died due to the poisoning of the submarine oxygen crew underwater. The alleged accident which reportedly happened on August 21, was the fallout of system failures.
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The tragedy struck when onboard oxygen system purportedly malfunctioned, poisoning the crew. It appears that the submarine ran into a trap originally meant to ensnare British and US submarines, the report added.
It further read: "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 is 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."
The UK report, which is based on defence intelligence, is highly classified. According to a British submariner, the incident occurred but China did not ask for international support for obvious reasons.
"If they were trapped on the net system and the submarine's batteries were running flat (plausible) then eventually the air purifiers and air treatment systems could have failed," he said. He continued, "The system failure polluted the air and it led to asphyxia or poisoning."
