The ship, which has been anchored for eight years in a lagoon near the Yangtze River in Nantong, Jiangsu province, was undergoing renovations to become part of a military theme park when the blaze broke out.
The fire started on Friday afternoon and was extinguished after about 24 hours. Images shared on social media showed significant damage to the ship, including thick smoke, large flames on the deck, and charred metal on the superstructure. Fortunately, no casualties were reported, and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
The Minsk had previously served as the main attraction at a now-closed theme park in southern China for 16 years. The recent renovation project aimed to repurpose the ship as the centerpiece of a new theme park, but this fire has cast doubt on those plans.
The Minsk was one of four Kiev-class aircraft carriers built by the Soviet Union between 1970 and 1987. The 896-foot ship, with a displacement of about 42,000 tons, could carry a dozen fighter jets and an equal number of helicopters. After serving in the Soviet Pacific Fleet from its commissioning in 1978 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the ship became property of the Russian Navy.
It was retired in 1993 and sold, along with a sister ship, the Novorossiysk, to a South Korean company for scrap. While the Novorossiysk was dismantled, the Minsk was sold to a Chinese company and later became the focal point of the Minsk World theme park in Shenzhen. The park eventually closed in 2016, and the ship was relocated to Nantong.
