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Fire at icebreaker in St. Petersburg put out — rescuers

A total of 110 people and 24 pieces of hardware were involved in the firefighting effort

MOSCOW, November 27. /TASS/. Firefighters have completely extinguished fire at the Viktor Chernomyrdin diesel-electric icebreaker under construction in Russia’s second largest city of St. Petersburg, a spokesperson for Russia’s emergencies ministry told TASS on Tuesday.

"At 21:10 Moscow time it was announced that the blaze was contained and all open fire sources were put out at an area of 300 square meters," the spokesperson said. "At 22:15 Moscow time, the fire was completely extinguished."

The fire alarm call came to the Crisis Management Center in St. Petersburg at 7 pm, Moscow time. The blaze partially engulfed the vessel’s third and fourth decks, spreading to an area of 300 square meters (out of 1,200 square meters in total). According to earlier reports, two people were injured. One of the victims was hospitalized, the other refused to go to hospital and was examined by doctors on site.

The fire damaged some electric wiring, equipment and wall panels in technical areas.

A total of 110 people and 24 pieces of hardware were involved in the firefighting effort. The Admiralty Shipyard’s press service earlier ruled out the possibility of fire spreading to other vessels.

The icebreaker has been under construction since December 2012, and will be world’s most powerful non-nuclear-powered icebreaker. It is expected to operate on the Northern Sea Route.