Russia's defense minister says some crew members have survived a deadly fire that killed 14 on one of the Russian navy's deep-sea research submersibles.
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, July 2, 2019. A fire on one of the Russian navy's deep-sea submersibles killed 14 sailors, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday without giving the cause of the blaze or saying if there were survivors.
Details were scarce about the incident on the ship, which was on a mission to measure sea depths in Russia’s territorial waters in the Barents Sea. The Defense Ministry said the seamen were killed by toxic fumes from the blaze, but did not specify how many crew members were aboard. President Vladimir Putin, who summoned Shoigu Tuesday to report on the fire, said in televised comments that seven of the dead had the rank of captain and two were awarded the nation’s highest medal, the Hero of Russia.Russian media on Wednesday identified some of the victims, including the ship’s captain, Denis Dolonskiy, who was awarded the Hero of Russia medal for the 2012 Arctic seabed research mission.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to answer questions about the vessel’s name, design and mission, saying that the information is confidential. The Losharik is named after a Soviet-era animated cartoon horse made up of small spheres — a reference to the unique design of its interior hull, reportedly made of a chain of titanium spheres capable of withstanding colossal pressure at great depths.
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