Mystery over state of Russian bases housing Putin's most prized nuke subs near epicentre of 6th biggest quake on record
The 8.8 magnitude monster hit off the coast of Kamchatka just before 1am BST on Tuesday and is the sixth biggest on record.
7
7
7
7
It hit just 75miles southeast of Russia's key naval base in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky that houses its Pacific Fleet.
Part the complex is the Rybachiy submarine base - which builds and houses the flagship nuclear-armed Borei-class subs.
The base is hidden inside Avacha Bay and its condition remains unknown following the mega quake.
The huge earthquake and tsunami could have caused any submarines or boats in port to smash into the dock and also hammered the piers and wharves.
Other clips caught from the peninsula showed rocks falling down cliffs following the shaking.
Information from the base is limited as the nearby town of Vilyuchinsk is closed to the public.
Vilyuchinsk builds the submarines and anyone who wants to enter needs an official permit.
But patriotic Russians have denied there will be damage as the base is made to withstand a nuclear explosion.
One former Russian Navy officer posted on X saying: "I have no information that critical damage to the Russian Navy's naval bases in Kamchatka. I think everything is within the normal range."
Satellites have also been prevented from snapping the bases recently by thick cloud cover.
Moment surgeons continue performing surgery on patient during 8.8-mag quake
It is unclear what ships were in port at the time of the quake.
The Russian Pacific Fleet has some 600 warships and is thought to have five of the Borei class submarines.
The bulk of the fleet is homeported in Vladivostok, 1,400miles to the southwest.
Putin will be particularly nervous about its condition given how much of his Black Sea fleet he has lost to Ukraine's bombs.
7
7
Locals in the village of Severo-Kurilsk in Kamchatka caught video of the resulting tsunami flooding a fish processing factory on the coast.
The local port was also inundated which buildings even being moved by the force of the water.
In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy a kindergarten collapsed and several people were injured.
Footage caught surgeons in the city managing to continue operating while the horror quake unfolded.
The brave doctors were captured looking at one another as the apparatus around them begins to shake.
The Kremlin announced that no one in Russia had died from the monster earthquake.
In nearby Japan, some 2million people were ordered to evacuate from the costs with fears the tsunami could lead to a second Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Evacuations were also ordered in Hawaii with waves hitting the islands 1.5m high.
With the threat to the US, President Donald Trump posted: "Due to a massive earthquake that occurred in the Pacific Ocean, a Tsunami Warning is in effect for those living in Hawaii.
"A Tsunami Watch is in effect for Alaska and the Pacific Coast of the United States. Japan is also in the way. Please visit tsunami.gov/ for the latest information. STAY STRONG AND STAY SAFE!"
7
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
35 minutes ago
- BBC News
Rescuers race to save Chile miners after collapse kills at least one
Rescuers in Chile are continuing to search for four miners trapped in a mine that collapsed after an earthquake two days ago, after the body of one was state-owned Codelco company said that human remains have been found at its El Teniente copper mine, about 70km (43 miles) south-east of the capital firm says that rescuer efforts are continuing. The fate of the other four employees is collapse of some of the mine's underground tunnels was caused by a 4.2 magnitude tremor on Thursday. The trapped miners at the time were working deep below the surface. One person had been reported killed after the earthquake, with five trapped in the said that the victim found in the mine on Saturday still needs to be identified, but the families of the five trapped miners had been notified."This discovery fills us with sadness, but it also tells us that we are in the right place, that the strategy we followed led us to them," El Teniente Division's general manager Andres Music said in a teams have been using heavy machinery in an effort to clear the blocked passageways to try to reach the miners. Mr Music said the rescuers were hoping to be proceeding at a rate of 15-20m (49-66ft) every 24 Teniente is the world's largest underground copper is located high in the Andes mountains in central Chile.
BBC News
35 minutes ago
- BBC News
How the mystery of Winston Churchill's dead platypus was finally solved
In 1943, a camouflaged ship set off from Australia to England carrying top secret cargo - a single young after his would-be owner, UK prime minister Winston Churchill, the rare monotreme was an unprecedented gift from a country desperately trying to curry favour as World War Two expanded into the Pacific and arrived on its days out from Winston's arrival, as war raged in the seas around him, the puggle was found dead in the water of his specially made "platypusary".Fearing a potential diplomatic incident, Winston's death – along with his very existence – was swept under the was preserved, stuffed and quietly shelved inside his name-sake's office, with rumours that he died of Nazi-submarine-induced shell-shock gently whispered into the mystery of who, or what, really killed him has eluded the world since - until now. Two Winstons and a war The world has always been fascinated by the platypus. An egg-laying mammal with the face and feet of a duck, an otter-shaped body and a beaver-inspired tail, many thought the creature was an elaborate hoax; a taxidermy Churchill, an avid collector of rare and exotic animals, the platypus's intrigue only made him more desperate to have one – or six – for his in 1943 he said as much to the Australian foreign minister, H.V. 'Doc' the eyes of Evatt, the fact that his country had banned the export of the creatures - or that they were notoriously difficult to transport and none had ever survived a journey that long - were merely challenges to had increasingly felt abandoned by the motherland as the Japanese drew closer and closer – and if a posse of platypuses would help Churchill respond more favourably to Canberra's requests for support, then so be David Fleay – who was asked to help with the mission – was less amenable."Imagine any man carrying the responsibilities Churchill did, with humanity on the rack in Europe and Asia, finding time to even think about, let alone want, half-a-dozen duckbilled platypuses," he wrote in his 1980 book Paradoxical Platypus. On Mr Fleay's account, he managed to talk the politicians down from six platypuses to one, and young Winston was captured from a river near Melbourne shortly elaborate platypusary – complete with hay-lined burrows and fresh Australian creek water – was constructed for him; a menu of 50,000 worms – and duck egg custard as a treat – was prepared; and an attendant was hired to wait on his every need throughout the 45-day the Pacific, through Panama Canal and into the Atlantic Ocean Winston went - before tragedy a letter to Evatt, Churchill said he was "grieved" to report that the platypus "kindly" sent to him had died in the final stretch of the journey."Its loss is a great disappointment to me," he mission's failure was kept secret for years, to avoid any public outcry. But eventually, reports about Winston's demise would begin popping up in newspapers. The ship had encountered a German U-boat, they claimed, and the platypus had been shaken to death amid a barrage of blasts. "A small animal equipped with a nerve-packed, super sensitive bill, able to detect even the delicate movements of a mosquito wriggler on stream bottoms in the dark of night, cannot hope to cope with man-made enormities such as violent explosions," Mr Fleay wrote, decades later."It was so obvious that, but for the misfortunes of war, a fine, thriving, healthy little platypus would have created history in being number one of its kind to take up residence in England." Mystery unravelled "It is a tempting story, isn't it?" PhD student Harrison Croft tells the it's one that has long raised so last year, Mr Croft embarked on his own journey: a search for archives in both Canberra and London, the Monash University student found a bunch of records from the ship's crew, including an interview with the platypus attendant charged with keeping Winston alive."They did a sort of post-mortem, and he was very particular. He was very certain that there was no explosion, that it was all very calm and quiet on board," Mr Croft says. A state away, another team in Sydney was looking into Winston's life too. David Fleay's personal collection had been donated to the Australian Museum, and staff all over the building were desperate to know if it held answers."You'd ride in the lifts and some doctor from mammalogy… [would ask] 'what archival evidence is there that Winston died from depth charge detonations?'" the museum's archive manager Robert Dooley tells the BBC."This is something that had intrigued people for a long time."With the help of a team of interns from the University of Sydney, they set about digitising all of Fleay's records in a bid to find out. Even as far back as the 1940s, people knew that platypuses were voracious eaters. Legend of the species' appetite was so great that the UK authorities drafted an announcement offering to pay young boys to catch worms and deliver them to feed Winston upon his the platypus attendant's logbook, the interns found evidence that his rations en route were being decreased as some of the worms began to it was water and air temperatures, which had been noted down at 8am and 6pm every day, that held the key to solving the readings were taken at two of the cooler points of the day, and still, as the ship crossed the equator over about a week, the recorded temperatures climbed well beyond 27C - what we now know is the safe threshold for platypus the benefit of hindsight - and an extra 80 years of scientific research into the species - the University of Sydney team determined Winston was essentially cooked they can't definitively rule out the submarine shell-shock story, they say the impact of those prolonged high temperatures alone would have been enough to kill Winston. "It's way easier to just shift the blame on the Germans, rather than say we weren't feeding it enough, or we weren't regulating its temperature correctly," Ewan Cowan tells the BBC."History is totally dependent on who's telling the story," Paul Zaki adds. Platypus diplomacy goes extinct Not to be dissuaded by its initial attempt at platypus diplomacy, Australia would try again in off the achievement of successfully breeding a platypus in captivity for the first time – a feat that wouldn't be replicated for another 50 years – Mr Fleay convinced the Australian government to let the Bronx Zoo have three of the creatures in a bid to deepen ties with the Winston's secret journey across the Pacific, this voyage garnered huge attention. Betty, Penelope and Cecil docked in Boston to much fanfare, before the trio was reportedly escorted via limousine to New York City, where Australia's ambassador was waiting to feed them the ceremonial first would die soon after she arrived, but Penelope and Cecil quickly became celebrities. Crowds clamoured for a glimpse of the animals. A wedding was planned. The tabloids obsessed over their every move. Platypus are solitary creatures, but New York had been promised lovers. And while Cecil was lovesick, Penelope was apparently sick of love. In the media, she was painted as a "brazen hussy", "one of those saucy females who like to keep a male on a string".Until 1953 that is, when the pair had a four-day fling - rather upsettingly described as "all-night orgies of love" - fuelled by "copious quantities of crayfish and worms".Alas, Penelope soon began nesting, and the world excitedly awaited her platypups, which were to be a massive scientific milestone – only the second bred in captivity, and the first outside four months of princess treatment and double rations for Penelope, zookeepers checked on her nest in front of a throng of excited reporters. But they found no babies - just a disgruntled-looking Penelope, who was summarily accused of faking her pregnancy to secure more worms and less Cecil."It was a whole scandal," Mr Cowan says - one from which Penelope's reputation never later, in 1957, she would vanish from her enclosure, sparking a weeks-long search and rescue mission which culminated in the zoo declaring her "presumed lost and probably dead".A day after the hunt for Penelope was called off, Cecil died of what the media diagnosed as a "broken heart".Laid to rest with the pair was any real future for platypus the Bronx Zoo would try to replicate the exchange with more platypuses in 1958, the finnicky beasts lasted under a year, and Australia soon tightened laws banning their export. The only two which have left the country since have lived at the San Diego Zoo since 2019.
Scottish Sun
2 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Russia dismisses Trump's warning of sending nuclear subs closer to country as a ‘temper tantrum'
Former major general Leonid Ivlev said it did not pose a new threat as the location of US naval forces is known and the range of submarines can be found online SUBS SNUB Russia dismisses Trump's warning of sending nuclear subs closer to country as a 'temper tantrum' Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) RUSSIA has dismissed Donald Trump's warning he is sending nuclear submarines closer to Russia as a 'temper tantrum'. While the Kremlin has yet to respond, the US President has been mocked by local media. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 The Kremlin has yet to respond to Trump's recent threats, pictured leader Putin Credit: Getty Former major general Leonid Ivlev said it did not pose a new threat as the location of US naval forces is known and the range of submarines can be found online. Another retired lieutenant general called it 'meaningless blather'. And a Russian security expert told one paper: 'I'm sure Trump didn't really give any orders'. Trump had said he was ordering submarines to 'appropriate regions' after ex-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said they still had Soviet-era nuke capabilities. He said: 'Words are very important and can often lead to unintended consequences.' Trump has said that the US is "totally prepared" for a nuclear war following a slew of threats against America from a Kremlin comrade. He said: "If some words of the former Russian president [Medvedev] cause such a nervous reaction in the entire, formidable US president, then Russia is right in everything and will continue to go its own way. "Let him remember his favorite films about the "walking dead", as well as how dangerous a "dead hand" that does not exist in nature can be." Medvedev may have been referring to Moscow's "Dead Hand" nuclear weapons system, which is designed to launch a doomsday retaliation attack with full nuclear force - even if the Kremlin leadership is wiped out. He also warned that Russia "isn't Israel or even Iran." "Words are very important, and can often lead to unintended consequences. I hope this will not be one of those instances. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" Trump says US is 'fully prepared' for war after moving subs towards Russia
