China's new nuclear submarine sank at a shipyard near the Chinese city of Wuhan. The accident took place in May-June, but the Chinese authorities tried to conceal the loss.
It remains unknown whether the sub was carrying nuclear fuel at the time of the sinking. Most likely, no one took water samples after the accident; there is no information about possible victims and consequences either, The WSJ said.
Beijing has not commented on much reports yet. Representatives of the Chinese authorities say that they are not familiar with the situation.
The sunken vessel was a Zhou-class submarine, the first vessel of its type, built by state-run company China State Shipbuilding Corp. The sub was built at the Wuachang shipyard.
It was last seen in the water in late May. The submarine was at a pier on the Yangtze River, where it was being outfitted before heading out to sea. Satellite images show that the submarine was raised from the seabed in early June, when large floating cranes were spotted near the site of the accident.
Chinese engineers used improved stealth technology that would have made it difficult for active and passive sonars to detect the vessel. The submarine had an X-shaped stern for extra maneuverability.
Military expert Viktor Litovkin believes that there was nothing serious about the accident with the Chiense submarine. According to him, progress is often associated with unfortunate moments. This is an inevitable price that one has to pay for moving forward, he believes.
If the submarine sank near the pier, then it should not be difficult to recover it from the seabed. In his opinion, this was not due to design problems, since two years ago China already had six nuclear submarines.