A fire broke out today, on board the only Russian aircraft carrier carrying out maintenance work in the Arctic shipyard, and at least one of its personnel was lost, Russian news agencies reported.
Work on the Admiral Kuznetsov carrier has been in progress for more than two years in Murmansk, knowing that it was previously damaged in October 2018 when a crane crashed on the deck.
The RIA Novosti news agency quoted a source in the shipyard in Zvezdochka as saying that the fire broke out during the welding operations. Initial reports stated that three of the workers were missing.
A government spokesman, Tass, quoted a spokesman for the Zvezdochka Basin as saying that more than 400 people were on board the tanker when the fire broke out.
Interfax news agency reported that the fire spread over an area of about 600 square meters (6,500 square feet).
Admiral Kuznetsov, whose duties began in 1985 and is the pride of the Russian Navy, is undergoing major repairs, the first since 1997.
It was expected that the repairs workshop would be completed by the end of 2020, with the warship returning to the Navy in 2021.