Manned submersible rises after record dive

Xinhua -

China's manned submersible Jiaolong and its three divers rose from over 6,000 meters below the sea in the Mariana Trench after setting the country's deep-sea diving record on Friday.

The dive, which began at 9 am Friday, was the first of a series of six scheduled ones.

The dive went smoothly, with Jiaolong taking three hours to reach the depth of 6,671 meters at noon local time.

The mark surpassed the 5,188-meter record Jiaolong made last July.

The vessel's three divers - Ye Cong, Cui Weicheng and Yang Bo - passed on their wishes for the successful launch of China's Shenzhou-9 spacecraft scheduled on Saturday, while 6,055 meters below the sea.

Jiaolong threw ballast iron and began to rise at 12:44 pm local time.

The three divers and the vessel were all reported to be in good condition.

Earlier, something had been reported going wrong with the submersible's No.1 communication system.

However, the No.2 system worked soundly to guarantee communications between the vessel and Xiangyanghong 09, its mother ship.

The submersible rose to the surface at about 2:30 pm local time.

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