A fire aboard a top-secret Russian nuclear submarine could have led to a "catastrophe of global proportions" if not for the selfless actions of the crew, a senior navy official was cited by a Russian media outlet as saying.
Fourteen submariners were killed on July 1 during a fire in a deep-water research submersible that was surveying the sea floor near the Arctic, according to Russia's Defense Ministry.
Russian officials have faced accusations of trying to cover up the full details of the incident on the top secret vessel. President Vladimir Putin only acknowledged publicly there had been a nuclear reactor on board three days after it happened.