China becomes fifth country to acquire deep-diving technology

Beijing, Aug 27(ANI): A Chinese submersible has reached a depth of 3,759 meters, making China the fifth country in the world to acquire deep-diving technology. he submersible, Jiaolong, which is 8.2 meters long and weighs nearly 22 tons, had been designed to reach a depth of 7,000 meters.

With a crew of three, Jiaolong dived 17 times from May 31 to July 18 in the South China Sea, going below 3,000 meters four times. The deepest it reached was 3,759 meters.

It operated at a peak duration of nine hours and three minutes, and sent back videos and photos of the seabed.

"From last year's 50 meters, 300 meters and 1,000 meters to this year's depth of more than 3,700 meters, it is a great achievement," The China Daily quoted Liu Feng, chief director of the diving trials, as saying.

"Such a depth means that Chinese scientists are able to conduct research in the deep. It also marks China becoming one of the few countries that possess manned deep-diving technology."

"We did pressure tests that simulated the environment at 7,000 meters underwater. That depth is our target. We will keep on trying deeper depths and finally reach the 7,000-meter goal," he added.

The other four countries with deep-diving technology are the US, France, Japan and Russia.

Japan's Shinkai 6500 has a depth capability of 6,500 meters. (ANI)