Indian Navy aircraft carrier suffers third onboard fire

The Indian Navy has confirmed that a fire ignited on board the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya while it was undergoing sea trials on Wednesday, July 20.

The ship recently completed a refit and was underway off the coast of Karnataka state when the incident occurred on the evening (local time) of Tuesday.

The crew were able to extinguish the blaze. No casualties have been reported.

The navy said that a board of inquiry has already begun investigating the events that led to the incident, which is the third to occur on board the carrier following its acquisition from Russia.

The first fire incident occurred on April 26, 2019, while the ship was underway. One of the crew died of smoke inhalation while seven others suffered injuries while attempting to extinguish the blaze.

The second incident was on May 8, 2021, while the carrier was at berth in Karnataka’s Karwar Harbour. The navy said the crew had ample early warning and were able to successfully extinguish the blaze, which ignited in one of the accommodation spaces.

No injuries or major damage were reported from the May 2021 fire incident.

Vikramaditya is the former Admiral Gorshkov, a Kiev-class aircraft carrier that was operated by the Russian Navy from 1987 to 1996.