A criminal case has been initiated
St. Petersburg. December 18. INTERFAX - A criminal case has been opened in St. Petersburg after a fire on the territory of the Severnaya Verf shipyard, Elena Markovskaya, a representative of the Western Interregional Investigative Department for Transport of the IC of Russia, told reporters on Saturday.
"A criminal case has been initiated on the grounds of a crime under Part 1 of Article 216 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (violation of safety rules during construction or other work, if this caused major damage)," Markovskaya said.
"The investigation found that on December 17, 2021, at about 18 o'clock on the 5th slipway located on the territory of the shipyard "Severnaya Verf", there was a fire of the superstructure of the vessel, which caused major damage," she said.
Investigators of the St. Petersburg Investigative Department of Transport continue to inspect the scene of the accident, interrogate factory workers, witnesses. Examinations have been appointed.
As reported, on Friday evening, a corvette "Agile" of project 20385 under construction caught fire on the stocks of the Severnaya Verf plant.
The fire was localized at 22:49. Three people were injured, two of them were taken to the hospital.
The Prosecutor's Office of St. Petersburg and the Western Interregional Investigation Department for Transport of the IC of Russia have started an inspection in connection with the fire.
The press service of the United Shipbuilding Corporation reported on Friday that a commission is being created to clarify all the circumstances of the fire on the corvette of project 20385.
There are no weapons on the Nimble corvette under construction, a source in the military-industrial complex told Interfax. "The ship is being built. There are no weapons or crew on it," the source said.
The Izvestia newspaper, citing a source, reported that the corvette's hull was not damaged in the fire, but the superstructure and the main antenna-mast device were seriously damaged.
The Nimble corvette is the second ship of Project 20385.
The lead corvette of the project - "Gremyashchy" has recently strengthened the Pacific Fleet of the Russian Federation. This ship is armed with Kalibr cruise missiles.
It was reported that the Nimble corvette is being built by the Northern Shipyard also for the Pacific Fleet.
The main task of the project ships is to detect and destroy surface targets and submarines, organize amphibious landings, protect the coastal zone and escort other ships. It was reported about plans to arm the ships of project 20385 with hypersonic missiles "Zircon".
Last year's report of Severnaya Verf says that the company spent 116.5 million rubles on labor protection, industrial and fire safety measures.
The report also says that the launch date of the Nimble corvette was postponed due to several factors, including "the postponement of the deadline for the delivery of the ship by the state customer to 2022."
