A fire on a passenger vessel moored at a Moscow river port was finally extinguished after a thirteen hour struggle by firefighters on Monday evening, a police source said .
Four people on board were injured and one crewmember is still missing.
“The fire was extinguished at 5.27 p.m Moscow time [13.27 GMT],” the source said, adding the boat is underwater at the stern but the burnt-out bow remains afloat.
The three-deck river boat Sergei Abramov caught fire early on Monday. The fire quickly engulfed the vessel and caused it to list.
Emergency crews will attempt to settle the vessel on the riverbed to prevent engine oil spilling into the river, the source said.
According to a preliminary investigation, the fire might have been caused by defective electric wiring or fire-safety violations.
The incident is one of a string of serious accidents involving Russian riverboats in recent months. The worst incident was the sinking of the cruise ship Bulgaria, which went down in a storm in the Volga River in the Republic of Tatarstan on July 10, killing 122 people.
