Fire-fighters are now flooding the dock where the Oryol nuclear submarine caught fire today as the foam attack isn't working, TASS reported at 18:01 Moscow time.
An "informed source" told TASS (translation by The Interpreter):
He said the area involved in the fire has increased, but it is hard to establish the dimensions due to heavy smoke."At the present time, the foam attack which was conducted to douse the fire is not bringing results. In that connection the issue is being reviewed of completely flooding the whole dock with water."
But at 18:43, this version of the report was deleted, and substituted with another quote from a source:
"The gates of the dock are open, the operation to flood it with water has begun. As a result the submarine Oryol will be submerged, which will enable us at first to localize and then liquidate the fire. There are no other means of dousing the fire on the submarine."
Previous version of TASS report mentioning foam, now deleted.
Earlier Yevgeny Gladyshev, representative of the ship repair company's press office said preparatory work had begun to flood the dock chambers, construction scaffolding was being removed, the gates were being closed and firemen were leaving the dock.
"How much the dock will be flooded with water is hard to say since the source of the conflagration is in the lower part of the submarine's hull," he said. He also noted that no nuclear fuel was loaded on to the submarine.
In the earlier version of the TASS report, Gladyshev was quoted as saying that 11 units
of the Emergencies Ministry had responded but the fire was not yet
under control.
The fire took place at the Zvezdochka ship repair shop in Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk Region at 14:00 Moscow time. The personnel all evacuated the submarine without injury. The fire is in rubber insulation.