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MOSCOVA (Reuters) -

Rusia a folosit elicoptere şi remorchere pentru a lupta impotriva   unui  incendiu care a cuprins un submarin nuclear andocat la un şantier naval, joi, dar oficialii  au  declarat  ca nivelurile de radiaţii au fost normale.

Un canal de televiziune locale au aratat un nor uriaş de fum deasupra şantierului în regiunea Murmansk din nordul Rusiei şi a zis: elicopterele  au încercat să stinga  flăcările , care spun martorii au crescut cu 10 metri (30 picioare) deasupra navei sinistrate.

   Russia said all weapons had been removed from the 167-metre (550 feet) Yekaterinburg, which launched a ballistic missile from the Barents Sea as recently as July, and that the nuclear reactor had been shut down.

"Radiation levels are normal," a spokeswoman for the emergencies ministry said. "No one was injured."

The blaze at the Roslyakovo dock, one of the main dockyards of Russia's northern fleet 1,500 km (900 miles) north of Moscow, is believed to have started when wooden scaffolding caught fire during repairs to the submarine, which some Russian news agencies said had been hoisted into a dry dock.

The 18,200-tonne Yekaterinburg can carry 16 ballistic missiles, each with four warheads.

Russia's worst post-Soviet submarine disaster occurred in August 2000 when the Kursk nuclear submarine sank in the Barents Sea killing all 118 crewmen aboard.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Giles Elgood)