Chinese submersible breaks 7 000m national record

Applause broke out as a depth gauge aboard the supporting ship Xiangyanghong registered more than 7 000m. The Jiaolong - named after a Chinese mythological dragon - carried three people. News24 reports the mission chief commander Liu Feng said that the dive shows the performance of the submersible is stable.

The same submersible reached 5 188m in a Pacific dive in July last year. And in a series of three previous dives since 15 June, the craft has gone deeper each time. Experts say 7 000m is the limit of its design, adding that China intends to use the submersible for scientific research, such as collecting samples of undersea life and studying geological structures, as well as future development of mineral resources, News24 says.

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