Navy finds no-one to blame for submarine tragedy

Canada’s navy concluded today that no-one is to blame for the death of a young submariner who died following an electrical fire aboard a Canadian submarine last autumn.

Lieutenant Chris Saunders, 32, a member of the crew of HMCS Chicoutimi, died in October when fire crippled the vessel three days after it set sail from Scotland. The second-hand submarine, bought by Canada from Britain’s Royal Navy, caught fire on its maiden voyage under the Canadian flag.

An investigation report released today by a naval board of inquiry concluded the fire was the result of sea water splashing on high-voltage cables, and that no-one is to blame for death of Saunders.

The board also concluded the submarine was safe and ready to proceed to sea at the time of the accident.

“The board finds that neither Lieut Saunders nor any other person was responsible” for his death, said the 700-page report that was eight months in the making.

The blaze left the Chicoutimi and its 57 crew members adrift in rough seas some 100 miles north-west of Ireland. Saunders died after being airlifted to an Irish hospital.