| "Dimitri, you lost another submarine?" |
| So they drowned the fire. Apparently the fire never got inside the sub -- the BBC report says that it was confined to the rubber coating on the outside. |
At least nine people were injured fighting the flames which witnesses quoted by local media said rose 10 meters (30 feet) above the Yekaterinburg submarine at the navy ship yard in the Murmansk region of northern Russia.
"The fire on the submarine has been totally extinguished," Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu told officials leading the firefighting effort, more than twenty hours after the blaze began on Thursday afternoon at 1220 GMT.
Emergency officials decided to partially submerge the 18,200-ton Yekatirnburg submarine at the Roslyakovo dock, one of the main dockyards of Russia's Northern Fleet, 1,500 km (900 miles) north of Moscow, after hours of fighting the fire.
Official statements were vague,
| ...this is Russia after all... |
| "Oleg, careful with that torch..." |
The Yekaterinburg is a Delta IV class submarine. The submarine, which launched an intercontinental ballistic missile from the Barents Sea at a firing range as recently as July, can carry 16 ballistic missiles, each with four warheads, and a crew of 140.
A Defense Ministry spokesman said all its weapons had been removed before repairs started and its nuclear reactors were shut down. Part of the crew was onboard the submarine to check carbon dioxide levels, the temperature and to ensure the safety of the nuclear reactors.
| BBC report here. |
