Fire crews fight blaze aboard aircraft carrier

Around 40 firefighters tackled a fire on board an aircraft carrier under construction yesterday.Crews were sent to the scene on HMS Queen Elizabeth at Rosyth in Fife around 2:30pm.

Officials said the incident involved a “small piece” of smouldering material. No one was injured.

The Aircraft Carrier Alliance, a group of organisations involved in the Queen Elizabeth-class project, said normal working had resumed.

A spokesman for the alliance said: “As a standard precaution, employees and contractors in the immediate vicinity were evacuated. No one was injured during this incident.”

The Queen Elizabeth-class has been described by officials as a “hugely important” project for the Ministry of Defence and the UK’s shipbuilding industry.

The project involves the building of two carriers for the Royal Navy, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince Of Wales. They are due to enter service in 2014 and 2016 respectively.