Chinese submersible takes Youth Olympics torch to deep sea

China's manned deep-sea submersible Jiaolong took a torch of the Youth Olympics to be held in China to the deep sea on Saturday in the northwest Pacific Ocean. (Xinhua photo)

China's manned deep-sea submersible Jiaolong took a torch of the Youth Olympics to be held in China to the deep sea on Saturday in the northwest Pacific Ocean.

During an over 10-hour dive, the third of this year's expedition mission, the vehicle reached a depth of 5,555 meters in the open sea.

Jiaolong took sediment and water samples, and mapped out topography of the ocean floor.

The oceanauts also demonstrated in the submersible the torch, flag and mascot of the 2014 Summer Youth Olympic Games, which will be held in Nanjing, capital of China's eastern Jiangsu province, on Aug. 16-28.

The vehicle's carrier, the Xiangyanghong 09 oceanographic survey ship, set sail on July 4 from Fuzhou, capital of southeast China's Fujian province, for the submersible's first expedition mission in the 2014-2015 period.

After the voyage, Jiaolong is scheduled for another mission later this year in the southwest Indian Ocean to carry out scientific research on polymetallic sulfides.

The submersible, named after a mythical sea dragon, reached 7,062 meters in the Pacific's Mariana Trench in a dive in June 2012.