'Mechanical malfunction' on board Chinese submarine kills 70 sailors

China confirmed yesterday that 70 officers and sailors had died on one of its diesel-powered submarines. It is one of the worst naval accidents in the country's history.

In a brief and vague report that left the timing of the incident unclear, the Xinhua News Agency said the deaths had occurred "recently" in Chinese waters east of the Neichangshan islands in the Yellow Sea, between China and North Korea.

The loss and the way it has been handled will raise questions as to whether Beijing is living up to pledges to be more open about divulging information. It endured scathing criticism at home and abroad for trying to cover up the extent of the crisis surrounding the Sars virus, which led to important officials, including the Mayor of Beijing and the national Health Minister, being removed from their posts.

The submarine was on an exercise when the accident occurred, and "because of a mechanical malfunction, the 70 crew members on board died," Xinhua said.

In keeping with the Chinese armed forces' traditionally secretive stance on accidents, Xinhua provided no further details, nor did it say how the crew had died. Citing unidentified "navy sources", the news agency said the vessel had already been towed back to a port, also unidentified.

Military analysts in the West said it was probably a Ming-class diesel-electric submarine, of a type often used for coastal defence. Ming-class submarines usually carry a crew of 50, suggesting that some aboard were technicians or staff officers.

First made by the Soviet Union during the Second World War, the Chinese made them until the 1990s. They are thought to have more than a dozen still in operation. Western defence specialists say they they are obsolete by modern standards, and suggested the accident must have happened on the surface, as it would have been hard to recover the submarine if it had sunk in the depths.

In spite of the boat's' age, some analysts were surprised such a mishap had taken place. Some speculated that the submarine's batteries might have leaked acid which mixed with seawater, creating chlorine gas that killed the crew.

China's 2.5 million-strong People's Liberation Army includes a fleet of about 90 submarines, most of them aging diesel-electric vessels. They are known to suffer from a shortage of funding and insufficient maintenance.

Xinhua said that the former president, Jiang Zemin, who still remains as the chairman of the Central Military Commission, sent his condolences yesterday to family members of the sailors.

The incident in the submarine is the worst known Chinese naval disaster since the mid-1980s, when a destroyer exploded near the southern island province of Hainan, killing nearly 100 people.

The accident could have occurred as long ago as March. Exercises have been ongoing in the Yellow Sea over the past couple of months. The boat could have been involved in one of these exercises.

The announcement came during a long weekend in China marking the May Day holiday. The government may have been trying to reduce its impact by releasing it when many Chinese people are on vacation.