A sailor injured in a fire that disabled a Canadian submarine died Wednesday of his injuries, Britain's Ministry of Defense and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin said.
The diesel-powered submarine drifted in the Atlantic as British ships battled through rough weather to reach it and the 54 crew members who remained on board.
PHOTO: EPA
Britain's military airlifted Lieutenant Chris Saunders and two other injured sailors from the vessel earlier Wednesday. Martin said Saunders had died during the airlift but provided no further details.
"He gave his life serving his country and we owe his family our deepest condolences," Martin told Canada's House of Commons in Ottawa. "We pay him homage and we make known our deep respect to his family."
Rescuers had intended to take the three injured men to a hospital in Londonderry, Northern Ireland, but had to divert on short notice to Sligo, in the Republic of Ireland, because Saunders' condition deteriorated and he needed immediate treatment.
Officials had initially described the Tuesday electrical fire aboard the HMCS Chicoutimi as small.
But Commodore Tyrone Pile, commander of the Canadian Atlantic Fleet, said Wednesday it was "a major fire" that was worse than first thought.
Lawmakers in Ottawa observed a moment of silence in honor of Saunders, a father of two.
There was no immediate word on the condition of the two other crew members brought to Sligo for treatment, but the hospital said they were able to walk. Canadian officials said a total of nine people had suffered smoke inhalation from the blaze.
The six others did not require hospitalization and remained aboard the submarine, adrift about 185km northwest of Ireland. No injuries were reported among the remaining members of a crew that originally numbered 57.
The Chicoutimi was only four days into its maiden voyage as a Canadian vessel when it sent out a distress call Tuesday.
Three British naval vessels and two tug boats planned to tow the sub to a Scottish naval base, but a Canadian naval officer said rough seas might force any attempt get a tow line to the vessel until today.
The lead rescue ship, frigate HMS Montrose, reached the Chicoutimi at about 1pm on Wednesday, and pulled alongside to drop off medical staff and supplies and assess the damage, the Ministry of Defense said in London.
"They've got emergency lighting on board. It is probably going to get a little bit cold, but they have sufficient blankets and other means to keep warm on board the submarine," Pile said. "It's going to be uncomfortable with the movement of the sea."
An Irish naval vessel, LE Roisin, tried to reach the sub Wednesday but turned back after being damaged in heavy seas, the Irish Defense Forces said.
Another British ship laden with food and fuel and carrying a medical team and helicopter was also on the way.
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
Asian perspectives of the US have shifted from a country once perceived as a force of “moral legitimacy” to something akin to “a landlord seeking rent,” Singaporean Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen (黃永宏) said on the sidelines of an international security meeting. Ng said in a round-table discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Germany that assumptions undertaken in the years after the end of World War II have fundamentally changed. One example is that from the time of former US president John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address more than 60 years ago, the image of the US was of a country
DEFENSE UPHEAVAL: Trump was also to remove the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the judge advocates general for the army, navy and air force US President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate former lieutenant general Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown, breaking with tradition by pulling someone out of retirement for the first time to become the top military officer. The president would also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service,
BLIND COST CUTTING: A DOGE push to lay off 2,000 energy department workers resulted in hundreds of staff at a nuclear security agency being fired — then ‘unfired’ US President Donald Trump’s administration has halted the firings of hundreds of federal employees who were tasked with working on the nation’s nuclear weapons programs, in an about-face that has left workers confused and experts cautioning that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE’s) blind cost cutting would put communities at risk. Three US officials who spoke to The Associated Press said up to 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were abruptly laid off late on Thursday, with some losing access to e-mail before they’d learned they were fired, only to try to enter their offices on Friday morning
RSS