Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
A fire aboard a Russian navy research submersible has killed 14 crew members, the Russian defense ministry says.
It says the crew members were poisoned by fumes when the vessel caught fire while taking biometric measurements in Russian territorial waters on Monday.
The fire was later put out and the vessel is now at Severomorsk, the main base of the Russian Northern Fleet in the Murmansk region.
An investigation into the incident is now underway.
Submersibles are generally smaller vessels with limited crew on board supported by ships on the surface, while submarines are larger vessels capable of operating autonomously over long distances.
The Kursk submarine, which was destroyed by an explosion in the Barents Sea in August 2000 with the loss of its crew of 118, was also part of the Northern Fleet.
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
