BEIJING, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- Two nuclear-armed submarines, Britain's HMS Vanguard and France's Le Triomphant, collided in the Atlantic Ocean earlier this month, officials confirmed on Monday.

    The following is a list of major accidents involving nuclear submarines since the 1960s.

    April 10, 1963: The USS Thresher sank off the New England coast, with all 129 men aboard.

    May-June 1968: USS Scorpion sank with 99 men aboard in the Atlantic Ocean east of Norfolk, Virginia.

    March 4, 1970: French submarine, the Eurydice, sank with 57 crew off St. Tropez in the Mediterranean Sea.

    April 12, 1970: A Soviet nuclear-powered attack submarine sank with 88 crew members in the Atlantic Ocean off Spain.

    April 7, 1989: A Soviet Mike class attack submarine sank off northern Norway after a fire, 42 died.

    Aug. 12, 2000: The Oscar II-class SSGN Kursk sank during a training exercise in the Barents Sea, killing all 118 people on board.

    Sept. 6, 2006: A fire broke out on a Russian submarine moored near the Finnish border, killing two crew members.

    March 21, 2007 : An explosion on board the Tireless nuclear submarine of the British Navy killed two soldiers and injured another.

    Nov. 8, 2008 : More than 20 people were killed and another 21 injured on a Russian nuclear submarine in the Pacific Ocean.