AFP

WASHINGTON

FIVE firefighters and two crew members suffered minor injuries in a blaze aboard a US attack submarine at a shipyard in Maine, the Navy said on Thursday.

The fire broke out late Wednesday afternoon in a forward compartment of the USS Miami, a Los Angelesclass nuclear-powered submarine, and was extinguished by Thursday morning, officers said.

“The fire and subsequent damage was limited to the forward compartment spaces only which includes crew living and command and control spaces,” Rear Admiral Rick Breckenridge, commander of Submarine Group Two, said in a statement.

“The ship’s reactor has been shut down for over two months and remained in a safe and stable condition throughout the event,” he said. No weapons were in the sub’s torpedo room when the fire occurred, he said.

The heat and smoke contained in these confined spaces made it challenging for fire-fighters to combat the blaze,” Breckenridge added.

The seven people who suffered light injuries were five fire fighters and two crew members, and all have been treated and released, he said.