Massive Fire Breaks Out at Russian Shipbuilding Factory

A massive fire broke out at the Russian Onega Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Plant due to an explosion.

Russian media reported on this.

According to preliminary information, on the morning of April 3, a gas cylinder exploded in the production workshop of the shipbuilding factory in Petrozavodsk, causing a fire that spread over an area of 1,500 square meters.

Emergency services reported that one injured person was carried out from the burning building, having suffered burns to the upper respiratory tract and poisoning from the combustion products. Three other people were evacuated and taken to medical facilities.

As of 12:08 p.m., the fire was extinguished.

The Onega Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Plant specializes in the production of barges, industrial vessels, passenger ships, tugboats, and other specialized ships and boats.

In recent years, the factory has produced, among other things, dredgers for creating shipping channels and Arctic-class tugboats.

In 2023, the shipyard laid down the first icebreaker of Project 22740M, designed for operation in the Baltic, White, Azov, and Caspian Seas, as well as inland waterways.

According to the project, the 80-meter vessel with a diesel power unit will be able to navigate at low speeds in waters with a continuous layer of ice up to 1 meter thick. This will allow it to create a path for ships in challenging ice conditions.

Meanwhile, the main shipyard producing icebreakers for the Russian fleet remains the Baltic Shipyard located in St. Petersburg. It is there that Russian specialized vessels with nuclear power plants are being constructed.