'No blame' over fatal fire on sub

Lt Saunders died after the incident on HMCS Chicoutimi

An investigation by the Canadian Navy into a submarine fire in which a sailor died has concluded no-one was to blame for his death.

HMCS Chicoutimi caught fire on its maiden voyage from Faslane on the Clyde in October last year and crew member Lt Chris Saunders, 32, died in the blaze.

The inquiry said she was seaworthy and the fire was caused by sea water splashing on high-voltage cables.

The second-hand submarine was bought by Canada from the UK's Royal Navy.

The inquiry board, which conducted an eight-month investigation, also said the submarine was safe and ready to proceed to sea at the time of the accident.

"The board finds that neither Lt Saunders nor any other person was responsible for his death," the report said.

Canada bought HMCS Chicoutimi from the UK's Royal Navy

Two other crew members were also injured in the blaze. The vessel and its 54 crew drifted for five days without power before eventually completing her voyage to Canada aboard a Norwegian transport ship.

HMCS Chicoutimi was decommissioned in the early 1990s and then refitted by BAE Systems before being re-commissioned for service in the Canadian Navy.

The fire prompted Canadian opposition parties to accuse their government of buying "inferior submarines" on the cheap.

But UK Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said the vessel had been brought up to Royal Navy standards.