Aircraft Carrier ‘Minsk’ Catches Fire In China

It has become known how it ended up there.

On Friday, August 16, a fire broke out on the decommissioned aircraft carrier Minsk, which had been anchored in the port of Nantong in China's Jiangsu province for 8 years. This was reported by the Chinese publications Epoch Times and ifeng.com, citing the local fire department.

Firefighters reported that the decommissioned aircraft carrier caught fire during dismantling and reconstruction work. Although the Nantong fire department did not indicate the name of the aircraft carrier, the only “decommissioned aircraft carriers” in China are the Kiev in Tianjin and the Minsk in Nantong, Ifeng.com notes.

“It's about 9 pm now, and this aircraft carrier has been burning for 5 hours,” Epoch Times reports with a reference to an eyewitness who filmed the video. “There are fire trucks everywhere, but the firefighters can't get on board. The entire upper deck complex has already burned down, the ship's superstructure has collapsed, everything is in terrible condition.”

According to the fire service, there are no casualties, the cause of the incident is being investigated.

The heavy aircraft carrier Minsk was commissioned in 1978, it was included in the Pacific Fleet of the USSR Navy. The cruiser was home to 18 Ka-25 helicopters and 16 Yak-38 vertical takeoff and landing aircraft.

In 1993, a decision was made to disarm the ship, excluding it from the Russian Navy. In 1995, the cruiser was put up for auction, it was bought by the South Korean company Young Distribution Corp. for 4.5 million dollars.

In 2006, it was bought by the Chinese company CITIC Shenzhen. It made the cruiser the central exhibit of the Minsk World theme park. The park closed in 2016 due to a decline in visitor numbers and a decision by the local government to reclaim land in the area.

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