Wow only 2 minutes from life to death. very fast.
I have heard of this happeneing with tanks when they are underwater with the breather hoses up. If you block the breather pipe the people die almost
immediatly of oxygen starvation.
more on site
www.smh.com.au...
The Chinese submarine accident in which 70 crew died may have been due to a malfunctioning diesel engine that sucked all the oxygen out of the hull, a
Chinese Navy official says.
Investigators believe the crew died within two minutes, after submarine No.361 descended on a training mission two weeks ago. All the victims were
found at their posts, and there were no signs of struggle, suggesting that death came upon the men quickly, the official said.
The accident occurred during a training mission on April 16, the official said, but was not discovered by the navy until 10 days later, when the
submarine crew did not contact their base as expected. The crew had been instructed to maintain radio silence during training to practise concealing
their location.
The Chinese military publicly attributed the tragedy to mechanical failure, giving no further explanation, but Western naval specialists familiar with
diesel-powered submarines said the official's account was plausible.
The official said the submarine had charged its batteries from its diesel engine at the surface in preparation for descent. Diesel power is switched
off in preparation for descent because diesel requires oxygen to burn, the specialists said.