A UK report suggested the vessel got stuck in a trap intended to capture British sub-surface ships (Picture: Reuters)
Dozens of Chinese seamen are presumed dead after their nuclear submarine apparently became trapped in the Yellow Sea.
A UK report seen by MailOnline suggested the vessel got stuck in a trap intended to capture British sub-surface ships.
It is thought the captain of the submarine was killed alongside 21 other officers after its oxygen system failed.
The report reads: ‘Intelligence reports that on August 21 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.’
Chinese president Xi Jinping and Russian president Vladimir Putin pictured meeting earlier this year (Picture: EPA)
Beijing has officially denied the loss of the Chinese PLA Navy submarine ‘093-417’, dismissing speculation as ‘completely false’.
It is also understood China also refused to request international assistance during the incident.
There has not yet been independent confirmation of the loss of the vessel.
A British submariner said: ‘It is plausible that this occurred and I doubt the Chinese would have asked for international support for obvious reasons.
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‘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.
‘Which would have reverted to secondary systems and subsequently and plausibly failed to maintain the air. Which led to asphyxia or poisoning.
‘We have kit which absorbs CO2 and generates oxygen in such a situation. It is probable that other nations do not have this kind of tech.’
The Royal Navy declined to comment.
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