On July 1, 14 submariners had died in a fire on a submarine in Russian waters in the Arctic region.
“On July 1, fourteen submariners – sailors died in Russian territorial waters as a result of inhaling combustion products aboard a research submersible designated for studying the seafloor and the bottom of the World Ocean in the interests of the Russian Navy after a fire broke out during bathymetric measurements,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on July 2.
The defense minnistry statement said that the fire was extinguished “thanks to the self-sacrificing actions of the crew”.
After the incident the submarine was moved to the port of Severomorsk.
The Russian said that details regarding the type of the submarine and its tasks during the incident will not be provided because of citing its “secret mission”. Nonetheless, some info were released.
On July 3, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived in Severomorsk where he held a meeting on establishing the causes of the fire aboard the submersible.
“The main cause of the incident has been established: it was a fire in the battery compartment and then it spread,” the Kremlin website quoted Shoigu as saying.
The defense minister said that the crew had acted “heroically” and primarily rescued a civilian aboard the submersible after which they continued struggling for the vessel’s survivability.
“The submariners on board were unique military specialists — highly skilled professionals who conducted important research on the Earth’s hydrosphere,” Shoigu said.
Commenting on the situation, Russian President Putin confirmed that it was indeed a nuclear-powered submarine.
The Defense Ministry released the names of the submariners killed:
Captain 1st Rank
Captain 2nd Rank
Captain 3rd Rank
Other Crew
The fact that many among the deceased were high ranking naval officers was revealed is very unusual for a mere underwater “research” vessel. According to existing data, most of analysts believe that the submarine involved in the inncident was the Project 210 submarine (also known as ‘Losharik’).
The Project 210 submarine was among the most classified of the specialized boats of the Russian Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research, also known as GUGI.
Details and data cirtulating over the incident allows to suggest that the submarine may have been involved in some of the most recent Russina military projects like nuclear units of very small dimentions and nuclear-capable unmanned underwater vehicles.
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