A fire aboard a US warship in the Middle East earlier this year appears to have been much worse than the Pentagon reported, after CNN on Thursday released a new video of the damaged aircraft carrier.
A fire aboard a US warship in the Middle East earlier this year may have caused far more extensive damage than the Pentagon publicly acknowledged, according to CNN, which obtained video footage of the affected aircraft carrier
When the fire aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford was reported in March, the US Navy released a statement saying the blaze had been “contained,” that two sailors suffered “non-life-threatening injuries,” and that the carrier was “fully operational.”
However, the new video shows that the fire was more severe and damaging than the US Navy originally disclosed, said CNN, and sources told the outlet that the ship’s fire-suppression system failed to work.
The fire broke out aboard the Gerald R. Ford while it was operating in the Middle East as part of the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran, which began on February 28.
Military officials said it took more than 30 hours to extinguish the blaze and the damage left more than 600 service members without beds, according to a report by the New York Times.
Dozens of service members were reported to have suffered smoke inhalation, in addition to two who were treated for “non-life threatening injuries.”
