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No people onboard burning motor ship, open fire put down

Some 20 fire-fighting teams are working at the fire site

MOSCOW, November 14 (Itar-Tass) —— No people are reported to stay onboard the Sergei Abramov motor ship, which caught fire early on Monday morning at a mooring in the Northern Port in Moscow, chief press officer of the Ministry of Emergency Situations main department in Moscow Yevgeny Bobylev told Itar-Tass on Monday.

“The captain said that all people onboard the motor ship were evacuated. There are no people onboard the motor ship. But this is a preliminary report,” he said.

Some 20 fire-fighting teams are working at the fire site. “The open fire was put down, but a very heavy smoke is seen. According to preliminary reports, the fire spread on 1,500 square meters,” Bobylev said.

The fire broke out at about 4 a.m. Moscow time on the lower deck and then the fire spread on the engine room and on the second and third decks.

The motor ship was used as a hotel upon the end of the navigation season, Bobylev said. Some 31 people, including 16 crewmembers and 15 passengers, were onboard the ship. After the fire almost all of them left the motor ship themselves. Seven people were saved and four of them jumped into the water. The officers of the state inspection for small vessels took them out from the water. Four people turned for medical aid finally.

The traffic is suspended at the Northern Port over the fire. The traffic police ask the drivers to take bypassing routes.

The three-deck motor ship Sergei Abramov was built in Czechoslovakia in 1960. The ship passed the complete overhaul in 2003. She is considered as one of the best river cruisers.

The cruiser can admit 146 people. The motor ship is 96.18 meters long, 14.99 meters wide and with the waterline of 2.4 meters and the speed up to 25 km/h.

Her previous names are Druzhba and Captain Rachkov.