Russian sailors ‘could have saved themselves but decided to fight’
Russian sailors who died on spy submarine ‘could have saved themselves but decided to fight fire with all their might instead’ before explosion killed 14 of them
- Sources close to the investigation said the men fought to save the ship
- It is thought the Losharik vessel was being used for intelligence gathering
- The submarine is used to operate at depths that other boats are unable to reach
A group of Russian sailors who died on a spy submarine ‘could have saved themselves but decided to fight fire’ before an explosion killed 14 of them.
Sources close to the investigation have now stated that the men fought to save the ship rather than evacuate.
The sailors who died on July 1, were said to likely have been killed by an explosion in the vessel’s battery compartment.
Experts speculated overnight that the purpose of the ship was intelligence gathering and could have possibly been used to target strategic assets.
Pictured above, the 14 Russian sailors who died onboard a submarine which is said to have been involved in intelligencew gathering
The vessel has yet to be formally identified by Moscow due to the nature of its mission but has since been identified by Russian media as the Losharik.
This particular submarine is able to operate at depths other boats are unable to reach.
Speaking to the Kommersant newspaper, one source said the fire had not initially been a threat to the crew as each had access to firefighting equipment.
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said: ‘The submariners acted heroically in the critical situation.
‘They evacuated a civilian expert from the compartment that was engulfed by fire and shut the door to prevent the fire from spreading further and fought for the ship’s survival until the end.’
This is while former naval intelligence officer A.D Baker said he doubted that the Russian would ever reveal the cause of the incident.
Flowers left at the Soviet submarine K-21 to commemorate the 14 Russian Navy officers who died in a fire earlier this month
‘The aging Russian Navy (and the predecessor Soviet Navy) in general has had a far higher number of operational accidents than any other ‘major’ fleet, and a large number of those accidents have involved fires.’
Following the disaster an unconfirmed account emerged of the crew of a fishing vessel seeing the stricken submarine – reportedly known as Losharik – surface after an emergency ascent on 1 July.
‘We were moving towards Kildin in the evening, and here, around 9.30pm , a submarine pops up,’ a fisherman said according to SeverPost.
‘It came up completely. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. On the deck, people were running, scurrying around.’
Almost immediately a warship and two tugboats approached the boat.
The fishermen said that around 11pm the vessels was pulled away from the remote location by the tugs.
Members of the crew are expected to be honoured for their actions when the vessel was hit by fire.
On July 4 Russia admitted the military submarine was nuclear powered, after initially refusing to disclose details about the incident.
President Putin revealed the information in a meeting with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on Thursday.
Shoigu assured the President the nuclear reactor was contained.
Russian officials have faced accusations of a Chernobyl-style cover-up of the accident after initially remaining tight-lipped on details.
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