(): A fire broke out on a retired aircraft carrier during the dismantling and refitting of the vessel along the Yangtze River in east China’s Jiangsu Province. The incident took place on Friday afternoon along the river in an industrial zone south of the Nantong city.
No casualties have been reported and flames have been largely extinguished on Saturday.
An investigation into the cause of the fire is underway, local authorities were quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
The aircraft carrier, named Minsk, was in 2016 moved to Nantong, where it is expected to form part of a planned aircraft carrier theme park.
‘Minsk’ had previously been moored in the city of Shenzhen in south China’s Guangdong Province for several years.
After its retirement in 1995, the aircraft carrier was sold to a company in the Republic of Korea before being resold to a Chinese company, which transformed it into part of a military theme park in Shenzhen.
Earlier the Nantong industrial zone said it would start renovations on the vessel in March with the goal of opening a national defence centre based on the carrier by October 1.
China currently has two aircraft carriers, Liaoning, which was a refit of the Soviet-era ship, and Shandong, which is an indigenously built 2nd aircraft carrier commissioned in 2019. China’s third aircraft carrier Fujian is currently undergoing trials.
