Russia submersible fire 'was in battery
compartment'
- 55 minutes ago
The
BBC's Steve Rosenberg reports on Russian media coverage of the underwater
disaster
Media captionThe BBC's Steve Rosenberg reports on Russian media
coverage of the underwater disaster
Russia says the
main cause of the deadly fire on board a submersible which killed 14 crew on
Monday was a fire in the battery compartment.
Defence
Minister Sergei Shoigu also said the top-secret military craft was
nuclear-powered but the reactor had been isolated from the fire.
Fourteen crew
members died of smoke inhalation as a result of the fire on the submersible in
the Barents Sea.
The craft is
now at Severomorsk, the main base of Russia's Northern Fleet.
"The main
cause has been established - it was a fire in the battery compartment, and then
it spread," Mr Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin in a meeting on 4
July, according to the Kremlin website.
"The nuclear power unit on the vessel has been fully isolated and
nobody is in that section. The crew took all the necessary measures to protect
the unit, and it is in full working condition. This leads to us to hope that in
quite a short time the vessel can be put back into service."
Severomorsk was
also home to the Russian Kursk nuclear submarine, which sank in 2000 killing
118 sailors.
The Kremlin had
previously kept details about the vessel confidential, adding that it was in
"the interests of the state and state security".
The crew on
board were involved in exploring the Arctic seabed, Russian government
newspaper Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported.
In 2000, Mr
Putin was heavily criticised for the way he handled the Kursk submarine
disaster. Media reports at the time showed the president enjoying a holiday at
a Black Sea villa as families of the victims demanded information about their
relatives.
Underwater
tragedies
Accidents
involving underwater vessels are rare. Here are some of the most serious:
§ The Argentine navy's ARA San Juan submarine
with 44 crew disappeared during a routine patrol in the South Atlantic in 2017.
The wreckage was found a year later
§ All 70 crew aboard China's Great Wall
Ming-class submarine suffocated in 2003 when a diesel engine malfunctioned,
consuming the vessel's oxygen supply
§ Russia's Kursk submarine sank in the
Barents Sea in 2000 after a torpedo
exploded during an exercise, killing all 118 on board, including
23 who survived the blast but died due to a lack of oxygen
§ The USS Scorpion sank in the Atlantic in
1968, possibly because a torpedo exploded, killing the 99 crew
§ The USS Thresher sank during diving tests
in 1963, killing all 129 on board - the biggest submarine death toll in history
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