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Reports confirm the boat was carrying senior staff in addition to regular crew

A senior captain from China's Naval Academy in Qingdao and navy technicians were among the 70 people killed in the Ming Class submarine accident.

A mainland media report, which was the latest release of information since last Friday's announcement of the disaster, yesterday confirmed foreign military analysts' speculation that the submarine was carrying non-crew members when the accident happened during a recent training exercise.

The Ming Class submarines carry a crew of 55.

The Wen Wei Po newspaper quoted senior military sources as saying Senior Captain Cheng Fuming, vice-commander of a naval detachment, was the highest-ranking officer on board submarine No 361, along with observers from the nation's submarine academy.

The report did not fully explain what the 15 extra military personnel were doing on the submarine, other than stating that some of them were trainers from the academy. There has been speculation that they were observing an exercise or testing experimental equipment.

On Monday, the Changjiang Daily reported that 14 of the dead men were Hubei residents.

Senior Captain Cheng was on the boat to direct a training exercise, according to the Wen Wei Po report. However, it did not say whether he was commanding the submarine at the time.

In the Chinese naval hierarchy, a captain is usually the highest-ranking officer on a submarine, so Senior Captain Cheng would have out-ranked the boat's usual commander.

The Guangzhou-based Southern Daily reported that military investigators were looking into human error as the cause of the tragedy.

Quoting sources involved in the recovery, the report said officials were not discounting the possibility that a crew member may have mistakenly shut off a crucial exhaust valve for air intake. Mainland media reports have said that all 70 victims were found suffocated.

The Southern Daily report also said that authorities had admitted they lost contact with the submarine for several hours. The boat was found by fishermen off the coast of Shandong  after they spotted the periscope above the waterline.

The exact date of the accident has not been disclosed, but reports have put it at anywhere between April 16 and April 28.

On Monday, China Central Television broadcast video footage showing Central Military Commission chairman Jiang Zemin and President Hu Jintao, who also holds the commission's vice-chairmanship, meeting families of the deceased crew in Dalian city, Liaoning, last Friday.

The People's Daily reported that both Mr Jiang and Mr Hu had 'boarded the 361 submarine  and asked detailed questions on the particulars' of the accident.



Naval chief was among victims of No 361 submarine disaster