KALININGRAD, August 4. /TASS/. The Baltic Fleet’s search and rescue forces held drills to provide assistance to a ship in distress that burst into flames at sea, the Fleet’s press office reported on Wednesday.

"The alert forces of the Fleet’s emergency response taskforce went on alert and were assigned the task of assisting a ship notionally in distress swept by a fire and towing it to the naval base," the press office said in a statement.

The SB-6 rescue tug, four fast support diving boats and the SMK-2172 multi-purpose rescue boat were urgently dispatched to the area of the ship in distress simulated by a missile boat of the Baltiysk naval base, the statement says.

Upon their arrival at the distress area, an emergency rescue group boarded the ship in distress and helped the crew fight the fire and plug the hole. The crew of a Ka-27PS helicopter of the Fleet’s naval aviation joined the rescue operation to search on the water and rescue the crewmembers that had left the damaged vessel, the press office specified.

"Upon the completion of all the emergency rescue operations and the provision of medical first aid to those notionally injured in the incident, the ship in distress was delivered to the base with the help of the rescue tug, the statement says.