One Dead in Fire Aboard Russian Icebreaker

 

In the early hours of Monday morning, Russia’s ice-class supply ship Katerina Velikaya caught fire at Dalzavod shipyard in Vladivostok, where it is under construction. According to a report by the Far Eastern Transport Prosecutor’s Office, one person died and three others were hospitalized with serious injuries.

By the time the firefighters were arriving, the smoke had filled the holds of the vessel and could be seen billowing from the stern. The region’s emergency fire services also reported that the propulsion equipment room was damaged by the inferno. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.

The fire incident has dealt a major blow to the delivery of the special icebreaker, which was already long overdue. Katerina Velikaya is the first of four multifunctional ice-class supply vessels ordered by the Russian oil producer Rosneft at Zvezda Shipbuilding complex in Bolshoy Kamen. The vessel was ordered in September 2015, laid down in September 2017 in presence of the Russian President Vladimir Putin and launched in December 2020. Initially, the ice-breaker was scheduled to enter service in 2019.

The 106-meter ice-breaker had been towed to Vladivostok for outfitting, mooring trials and preparation for sea trials.

The vessel class is designed to break ice up to 1.5 meters thick, and has a crew capacity of 49. Rosneft plans to use this series of ice-breakers for supply of offshore drilling platforms, provision of icebreaking assistance, towing vessels and transporting containers on the main deck.