A 'BLAST' on board a Russian navy submarine has killed 14 crew members.
The seaman were poisoned by fumes when the vessel caught fire while taking biometric measurements yesterday, the defence ministry said.
An investigation is underway into the incident on board the vessel, which was based out of the Northern Fleet main port of Severomorsk in Murmansk.
The deep-sea research vessel was carrying out a military survey in Russian territorial waters.
The ministry's statement said the submersible is intended for studying the seabed, but didn't give its name or type. Authorities haven't given a cause for the fire, saying that an official investigation has started.
The Russian navy uses Priz-class and Bester-class deep water vehicles, which have a hull built of titanium and are capable of operating at a depth of 3,281 feet.
They are transported to the area of operation by a carrier vessel and can operate autonomously for up to 120 hours.
The blaze marks the deadliest Russian naval incident since 2008, when 20 died when a firefighting system was accidentally initiated while the Nerpa nuclear-powered submarine of Russia's Pacific Fleet was undergoing trials.
In the deadliest naval incident in post-Soviet Russia, the Kursk nuclear submarine exploded and sank on Aug. 12, 2000, during naval maneuvers in the Barents Sea, killing all 118 crewmembers.
Russian Defense Ministry reported. "On July 1, a fire broke out in Russian territorial waters on a research deep-water apparatus designed to study the bottom space and the bottom of the World Ocean in the interests of the Russian Navy.
"During the biometric measurements, 14 submariners died as a result of burning with poisoned products"
"The causes of the incident are established. The investigation is conducted by the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy."
In August 2000, the Russian nuclear-powered submarine Kursk sank to the floor of Barents Sea after two explosions in its bow, killing all 118 men aboard.
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