MOSCOW — Fourteen Russian sailors on board a deep water research sub were killed in a fire while carrying out a survey of the sea floor, the Russian defense ministry was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. A Russian news outlet, RBC, cited an unnamed military source as saying the vessel was a nuclear-powered AS-12 deep sea submarine, but there was no official confirmation of that. The incident took place on Monday in Russian territorial waters and the fire has been extinguished. In December 2016, a Russian military plane carrying 92 people, including dozens of Red Army Choir singers, crashed into the Black Sea en route to Syria where Russian forces are deployed. U.S. media have cited Pentagon officials as saying they are concerned about the increased activities of Russian submarines and spy ships operating in the ocean off the U.S. coastline.

Source: National Post July 02, 2019 13:50 UTC