Jiaolong reaches 7,062m beneath sea

China's manned submersible Jiaolong set a new national dive record on Wednesday after reaching 7,062 meters below sea level in the Pacific Ocean.[Photo/Xinhua]

ABOARD XIANGYANGHONG 09 - China's manned submersible Jiaolong set a new national dive record on Wednesday after reaching 7,062 meters below sea level during its fifth dive into the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean.

The Jiaolong got three water samples, two sediment samples and one organism sample, placed a marker, and made several experiments on the sea floor 7,062 meters deep from the sea surface.

The oceanauts in the submersible attracted lots of living things with baits and took many photos and videos of them.

China has invested 470 million yuan ($73.79 million) into the Jiaolong project over the past 10 years for submersible research and modification and on-sea experiment, said on-scene commander Liu Feng.

The Jiaolong set a national dive record on Sunday after reaching 7,020 meters below sea level during its fourth dive into the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the world's oceans.

After arriving at the area earlier this month, the Jiaolong had succeeded in reaching depths of 6,671, 6,965 and 6,963 meters in its first three dives from June 15 to 22, easily surpassing the previous national record of 5,188 meters it set last July.

The Jiaolong enabled China to join the ranks of deep-sea faring countries. The United States, Japan, France and Russia currently lead the world in the development of deep-sea exploration technology, each possessing their own submersibles and support bases.