The aircraft carrier Minsk, which has been docked in a lagoon along the Yangtze River in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, for the past eight years, caught fire during renovations to turn it into part of a military theme park, state-run China National Radio reported on Saturday.
The fire broke out on Friday afternoon and was extinguished about 24 hours later, the statement said.
Images appeared on social media showing thick smoke and large flames on the deck of the aircraft carrier, while later photos showed extensive damage to the ship’s superstructure and charred metal on the side of the ship below the main deck.
“There are no casualties and the cause of the accident is under investigation,” the statement said, citing local firefighters.
The Minsk aircraft carrier used to be the main attraction at the now-defunct amusement park in southern China for 16 years, according to the report.
The report also said that the ship’s recent renovation efforts to turn it into the centerpiece of another theme park are now in doubt.
“Unfortunately, the fire has made the prospects of this project too uncertain,” the official told China National Radio.
Once part of the mighty Soviet Pacific Fleet, Minsk was the second of four Kiev-class aircraft carriers to be commissioned between 1970 and 1987. built by the Soviet Union.
The conventionally fueled and roughly 42,000-ton displacement ship, which was less than half that of the US Navy’s Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, could carry a dozen fighter jets and as many helicopters.
Built at a shipyard in what is now Ukraine and named after the capital of what is now Belarus, it has served in the Soviet Union’s Pacific Fleet since its commissioning in 1978. until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, when it became the property of the Russian Navy.
in 1993 Russia placed the ship in reserve and sold it and its sister ship Novorosijsk to a South Korean company for scrap.
While the Novorosijsk was being dismantled in South Korea’s Pohang port, environmental groups spoke out against the Minsk’s presence in the country. The ship was later sold to a Chinese company and eventually handed over to developers who turned it into a flagship in the 2000s. in the focus of the opened amusement park “Minsk World” in Shenzhen.
The park experienced financial difficulties and eventually closed in 2016. was closed and the aircraft carrier Minsk was moved to its current location in Nantong.
One of Minsk’s other sister ships, the Kiev is an attraction at the Binhai Aircraft Carrier Theme Park in Tianjin, on China’s northeast coast.
Of the four Soviet-built Kiev-class aircraft carriers, only the last, Baku, is still in service. in 2004 it was sold to India and reconstructed in 2013. commissioned into the Indian Navy as INS Vikramaditya and is now the flagship of the service.
Prepared by CNN.
2024-08-19 10:21:31