Originally Posted by
The Old Fat One
Kudos to your mate for having an amazing profession, but in this instance he is spinning a yarn, or just misinformed. Only 23 (out of a crew of 118) survived the initial explosion, and most Western sources believe only for few hours. This is all well-documented now.
Uh, the crew died because an oxygen generator fell in the water, probably an accident by the crew. So that's not really a reason to delay the rescue.