TYB
Taiwan denies reports that a Chinese nuclear sub has crashed near the Taiwan Strait
UPDATED: 09:36 EDT, 24 August 2023
-
Unconfirmed rumors that a Chinese nuclear-power submarine crashed near the vicinity of the disputed Taiwan Strait have been circulating online
-
Reports on Tuesday said that a Type 093 (Shang class) submarine had a major accident, killing everyone aboard
-
The Taiwan military claimed there is no evidence to indicate a Chinese submarine collision and Beijing has not confirmed the incident
Taiwan officials have denied reports that a Chinese nuclear sub crashed near the disputed Taiwan Strait.
Rumors have circulated that a Type 093 (Shang class) People's Liberation Army nuclear-powered attack submarine had crashed in unknown circumstances at some point in the past few days, killing everyone aboard.
The reports came just days after China launched military drills near Taiwan intended to serve as a 'stern warning' against colluding with 'foreign elements'.
There has been no official confirmation of the accident or any deaths of Chinese officials onboard the vessel.
The Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Sun Li-fang said the nation's joint intelligence and surveillance apparatus has not detected any evidence of a submarine crash in the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, according to the Taipei Times.
Li-fang announced that the Ministry of National Defense was meticulously monitoring 'all maritime and aerial activities around the Taiwan Strait.'
The Taiwan Strait is a disputed 180-kilometer arm of the Pacific Ocean separating Mainland China and Taiwan.
The Type 093 submarine, known as 'Shang class,' has a displacement of 6,096 tons when submerged and can reach speeds of up to 56 km/h.
It can hold a crew of 100 people and its range is unlimited due to its nuclear propulsion, according to Naval News.
The reported incident comes just days after China conducted large-scale military drills around Taiwan.
Last week, a division of China's People's Liberation Army that oversees the Taiwan Strait released a video that appears to show its troops practicing a coastal invasion of the self-governing island.
The Army's Eastern Theatre Command published the clip, which features a montage of soldiers storming beaches and driving tanks on dirt roads to a country-style Chinese ballad.
The song featured in the video and the accompanying WeChat post were littered with evocative lyrics and phrases like 'go over the city gate and the high wall' and 'no matter how dark it is, don't be afraid… chase and win the warmest years'.
The Chinese Communist Party sees Taiwan as a renegade province to be brought back under Beijing's control - something the authoritarian president Xi Jinping has said he is willing to do by force.
But Taiwan's elected Democratic Progressive Party steadfastly argues it presides over a self-governing, democratic, capitalist society with overwhelming support from its people.
It comes as Russia and China launched warships to conduct patrols in the Pacific Ocean and perform rescue training and drills for countering air strikes.
Video released by Russian state news agency TASS showed nine large vessels sailing in a diamond formation as crew members stood to attention on deck.
The drills also included practicing the 'replenishment of fuel reserves by ships and the transfer of cargo on the go', the defense ministry said, adding that the joint detachment of ships had covered more than 6,400 nautical miles since the start of the exercises.
'A detachment of ships of the Russian Navy and the PLA Navy is currently operating in the waters of the East China Sea,' said the ministry, referring to China's People's Liberation Army.
'During this period, the sailors of the two countries conducted anti-submarine exercises, repulsed an air strike by a mock enemy, conducted rescue training at sea, and perfected the skills of taking off and landing helicopters on the decks of warships,' the statement read.
Ties between Moscow and Beijing have grown closer in recent years, as prolonged fighting in Ukraine has shattered Russia's relationship with Western governments.
A Chinese defense ministry spokesperson said on Monday that naval fleets of the two countries were conducting maritime patrols in western and northern regions of the Pacific Ocean.
'These actions are not aimed at a third party and are not related to the current international and regional situation,' the spokesperson added.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12439471/Taiwan-reports-Chinese-nuclear-sub-crashed.html
Michael T. Flynn 🙏🏼 🇺🇸
@TrueGenFlynn
I want everyone to pay very close attention to the ongoing BRICS Summit ongoing in South Africa.
There is a Global Alliance forming against the United States of America because of the absolutely weak, pathetic, and the most corrupt President we have ever had in US history.
WE MUST #MAGA
@realDonaldTrump
Aug 24, 2023, 8:31 AM
https://truthsocial.com/@TrueGenFlynn/posts/110945308839521630
Harrowing drone video shows trapped cable car passengers clinging for their lives before rescue
August 24, 2023 9:57am Updated
Hair-raising drone video shows six children and two adults dangling hundreds of feet in the air inside a cable car in Pakistan — before they were finally rescued in a daring helicopter operation.
The jaw-dropping, eye-level footage obtained by the BBC and Sky News shows one of the adults clinging onto the chassis of the listing gondola some 900 feet above a ravine in the remote region of Battagram.
A child appears to be on the phone inside the car as the drone circles just feet away.
The eight passengers, who got stuck early Tuesday when one of the cables broke on their way to a school, were finally saved from the 16-hour vertiginous ordeal in a rescue operation involving helicopters and military commandos.
One of the youngest was grabbed by a soldier attached to a chopper, while others were lowered to the ground in a makeshift chairlift devised with a wooden bed frame and ropes.
“I had heard stories about miracles, but I saw a miraculous rescue happening with my own eyes,” 15-year-old Osama Sharif said after returning to terra firma.
“We suddenly felt a jolt, and it all happened so suddenly that we thought all of us are going to die,” he said about the first terrifying seconds.
Another child, Attaullah Shah, said he feared “it was over” when the cable broke, the BBC reported.
“When the chairlift was halfway there, its rope broke. It was dangling and I was terrified,” he said.
One of the rescuers flown in to help save the group was Muhammad Ali Swati, a 34-year-old zipliner and adventure tourism operator, The Telegraph reported.
“I was summoned to aid in the rescue mission,” Swati, who is from the Beer-Kund village in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told the UK news outlet. “After packing my bags, I was airlifted to the site.
“When I first reached the cable car, the children shouted at me out of fear. They were scared that if the rope moved, the lift would fall,” he said.
Swati explained that it took several minutes to allay their fears.
“We instructed each person, one by one, about the safety gear. Behind us, there was a protective rope tied, which the army personnel and civilians were pulling to help,” he told The Telegraph.
“They were in extreme distress and clung to me like a child clings to their mother. Tears welled up in my eyes — I can’t express the feeling,” he added.
The adventurer said the operation did not go off without a hitch.
“As I was bringing three children to safety, my left hand got trapped in a taut rope,” he said, adding that he almost suffered a severe injury in the mishap.
“Miraculously, they momentarily slackened the rope, allowing me to free my hand,” Swati said, referring to other rescuers hundreds of feet away.
Another rescuer was 30-year-old Sahib Khan, 30, whose family specializes in building cable cars, the outlet reported. He helped rig the improvised zipline used in the effiort.
“I began my operation around 7 p.m. after sunset and managed to bring the first child back to the ground,” he told The Telegraph. “The most challenging task for me was to convince the children to come out of the dolly.”
The students were all between 10 and 16 years old, including one who fainted “due to heat and fear,” rescue official Shariq Riaz Khattak said.
Meanwhile, cable car owner Gul Zareen has been arrested on multiple charges, including endangering valuable lives and negligence, the BBC reported.
https://nypost.com/2023/08/24/video-shows-trapped-cable-car-passengers-dangling-above-ravine/