Fire kills 14 on Russian navy submersible, military says
By PATRICK REEVELL
Russia's navy says a fire aboard one of its deep-sea submersibles has killed 14 sailors.
The fire broke out Monday while the submersible was carrying out tests in Russian territorial waters, the navy said in a statement, according to Russian state media.
In the statement, the navy said the fire was extinguished thanks to the "self-sacrifice of the crew" and that the vessel is now back in the Russian Arctic port of Severomorsk.
There are few details initially around the incident, which the Russian military said happened while the crew was conducting a "bathymetric measurement," a way of mapping the ocean floor. It said the sailors had been killed by toxic gases released by the fire. The navy's top commander is now overseeing an investigation into the cause of the fire.
The accident is one of the most deadly in the Russian navy in years and quickly summoned memories of the disaster involving the Russian navy submarine the Kursk, which sank in 2000, killing all 118 aboard.
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