On October 5, a fire broke out aboard France’s sole nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the “Charles de Gaulle.”
Sea-news.az citing the newspaper “Le Figaro,” that the incident occurred while the vessel was undergoing maintenance at the Toulon naval base.
According to reports, the ship’s crew immediately initiated firefighting operations. Subsequently, firefighters from the Toulon base were also deployed to the scene. The fire was localized and completely extinguished within approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes.
The fire erupted in a technical area located near the aviation hangar. As the ship has been docked at its home port for maintenance from late August to early December, no aircraft were present in the hangar at the time.
According to the Maritime Prefecture of the Mediterranean, the probable cause of the fire was metal cutting work being performed using a gas torch.
Currently, emergency crews are continuing their work on-site with the support of the marine firefighters battalion from Marseille.
The prefecture stated that no injuries resulted from the incident and no impact on the vessel’s nuclear propulsion units was recorded. An investigation into the incident is underway.
It should be noted that until the summer of this year, the “Charles de Gaulle” operated in the eastern Mediterranean to deter the threat of an escalating conflict in the Middle East.
