British submarine accident caused by oxygen-creating device: US

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2007

LONDON (AFP) — An accident on board a British nuclear submarine that killed two crew members and injured a third was caused by the explosion of an emergency oxygen-creating device, US military officials said on Thursday.

The accident occurred while HMS Tireless, a hunter-killer submarine which does not carry nuclear missiles, was under the ice cap in the Arctic Ocean during a joint exercise Wednesday between the Royal Navy and the US Navy.

US Navy spokeswoman Lieutenant Li Cohen told AFP that a self-contained oxygen-generation candle, part of the air purification system, exploded, causing the accident.

The British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said, however, that the vessel was "never in any danger".

Relatives of the two submariners killed, who have not...

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