25 Jun 2012

China sets record in Mariana Trench for manned dive

12:58 pm on 25 June 2012

China's manned, deep-sea submersible is reported to have set a manned dive record for the country by reaching a depth of just over 7,000 metres in the Federated States of Micronesia's Mariana Trench.

China's state-run media Xinhua reports that before yesterday the Jiaolong and its three-person team have made three previous dives in the area of the Challenger Deep, the deepest known part of all the world's oceans.

Earlier this year the film-maker James Cameron made headlines with an almost 11-kilometre dive in a submersible to the trench's bottom.

Xinhua reports that in one of the Jiaolong's previous dives the vessel spent three hours on the ocean floor while the crew collected samples of water and sediment and took photographs.