Chinese nuclear submarine suffers failure in Yellow sea, 55 die

London: A leaked British intelligence report said that 55 Chinese sailors died in the “catastrophic failure" of the country’s nuclear-powered submarine, according to a report by The Times.

Though China has denied the loss of any submarine in the region, the incident reportedly took place in Yellow Sea on August 2.

The submarine involved in the ‘failure’ was identified as 093-417, which was armed with torpedoes, according to the report.  

The submarine was caught in a 'chain and anchor obstacle' which resulted in the systems failure, leading to the death of the captain and 21 officers. according to the report.

The 'chain and anchor obstacle' was laid there to trap submarines of the US and others.

The system failure needed six hours of repair in order for the submarine to surface. However, the oxygen system failure resulted into the death of the crew.

‘The on-board oxygen system poisoned the crew after a catastrophic failure,’ the British intelligence officials reportedly said in the report.

However, there is no independent confirmation on the loss of Chinese submarine and deaths of the crew.