Two people were injured after a fire erupted onboard the new Russian diesel-electric icebreaker ‘Viktor Chernomyrdin’ which is currently under construction at Admiralty Shipyards, in St. Petersburg.
The fire was first reported at about 1900 hrs Tuesday, engulfing an area of 300 square meters, on the third and fourth of the ship’s decks, according to Russian news agency TASS.
The firefighting effort from the Crisis Management Center in St. Petersburg, involving a total of 110 people as well as 24 pieces of hardware, managed to put out the fire a few hours later.
Two persons were injured in the incident, the one of whom was hospitalized. The fire damaged some electric wiring, equipment and wall panels in technical areas, which is estimated at 1.5 million rubles ($22,500). The Admiralty Shipyard said there would be no possibility of fire spreading to other vessels.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Investigative Committee has initiated an investigation on the incident for potential safety violations, according to local media.
The icebreaker, expected to be the world’s largest and most powerful non-nuclear-powered icebreaker upon launch, has been under construction since December 2012 and will operate on the Northern Sea Route.
