Russian navy denies reports of fire on nuclear submarine

Russia’s navy today denied reports that a fire had broken out aboard a Pacific Fleet nuclear submarine that was docked at a repair yard on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said a welding spark had caused a pile of rags to smoulder and fill a compartment of the submarine with smoke, but that it did not qualify as “an incident” or a fire.

There were no casualties and the only consequence was that the compartment had to be aired out, Dygalo said in a statement.

“There were no preconditions for the threat of an explosion or radioactive contamination,” he said.