According to interfax.ru, fourteen submariners of the Russian Navy died in a fire on a deep-sea research vehicle, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
“On July 1, a fire broke out in Russian territorial waters on a deep-sea research apparatus designed to study the bottom space and the bottom of the World Ocean in the interests of the Russian Navy, during bathymetric measurements (assessing the depths of water bodies using special equipment - IF) … 14 submariners died as a result of poisoning by combustion products,”the RF Ministry of Defense said.
According to the military department, the deep-sea vehicle is located at the Severomorsk naval base.
At the moment, the fire source has been eliminated, the Defense Ministry said.
“The reasons for what happened are being established. The investigation is being conducted by the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy,”the department added.
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The Ministry of Defense does not report what kind of deep-sea vehicle it is talking about, but the Russian Navy has not so many bathyscaphes.
1. Deep-sea vehicle "Rus" and its modernized version "Consul":
Promotional video:
2. Bathyscaphes "Mir-1" and "Mir-2":
3. Deep-sea vehicles of project 1855 "Prize" and their subsequent modifications:
As you can see, all the bathyscaphes are very small with crews of up to 10 people. Hence, the only deep-sea vehicle that could have suffered an accident is the secret NUCLEAR deep-sea boat AS-12, also known as "Losharik", which has a crew of 25 people.
Thus, everything is obvious with the type of apparatus and why the Navy makes a military secret from this obvious fact, we do not know.
It is also unclear why the reports of the fire did not appear immediately on July 1 and why no details of the incident were disclosed, which makes people involuntarily associate with the Kursk nuclear submarine, about the loss of which everyone was also silent for a very long time.