A major fire broke out on the post-Soviet aircraft carrier Minsk, docked near Shanghai on the Yangtze River. The carrier was already decommissioned but was intended to be a unique tourist attraction. It took 24 hours to extinguish the fire.
“Minsk” was once one of the top amusement park attractions in southern China, but it has come a long way before becoming a tourist destination.
The Kiev-class ship was launched in 1978 and was an innovative combination of an aircraft carrier and a cruiser suitable for combat operations at sea. After the collapse of the USSR, the Russian Navy realized that maintaining the colossus was completely pointless. In 1993, Minsk was also seriously damaged – also by a fire that broke out in the engine room. This hastened the decision to decommission the ship.
