Russia's only aircraft carrier damaged
A photo taken from a Norwegian surveillance aircraft shows Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov in international waters off the coast of Northern Norway on October 17, 2016.
Russia’s only aircraft carrier was damaged while undergoing repairs in the north of the country after the floating dock holding it sank in the early hours of Tuesday morning and a crane crashed onto its deck.
The Admiral Kuznetsov was being overhauled on one of the world’s biggest floating docks in the icy waters of the Kola Bay near Murmansk close to where Russia’s Northern Fleet is based and was due to go back into service in 2021.
Maria Kovtun, Murmansk’s governor, said in a statement that a rescue operation had been launched and 71 people evacuated after the floating dock holding the ship had begun to sink. The warship was successfully extracted from the dock before it sank.
Investigators had opened a criminal investigation and said one person was missing and four others were being treated for hypothermia after being plucked out of the water.
Alexei Rakhmanov, head of Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation said the ship’s hull and deck had been damaged, although not what he called the vessel’s vitally important parts.
The floating dock had been hit by a power outage which had caused its water tanks to fill up rapidly, prompting it to sink, according to the shipbuilding factory which operated the floating dock.
