Fire on board Canadian submarine off Irish coast

LONDON (AFP) - Fire broke out on a Canadian submarine while it was submerged off the coast of Ireland, the British military said, triggering a full-scale military rescue operation.
Three crew members of the Chicoutimi, a non-nuclear-powered submarine originally built for the British fleet, suffered minor injuries, a Canadian navy spokesman told AFP.
The submarine sent out a distress signal from 100 nautical miles (180 kilometers) northwest of Ireland, a navy spokesman told AFP.
"She has suffered an electrical fire on board which has resulted in smoke throughout the vessel," said a spokeswoman at the Clyde navy base at Faslane in Scotland.
"She is now on the surface and everything appears to be all right," the spokeswoman said.
"There are three casualties with smoke inhalation, but nothing life-threatening."
About 50 people were thought to be aboard the vessel, which was only formally handed over to the Canadians last week in a ceremony in Scotland.
The spokeswoman said it was too early to establish whether the Chicoutimi would be able to continue its journey, and added that smoke damage could cause the total evacuation of all non-essential crew.
The Royal Navy and Air Force responded to the crisis with a massive rescue operation including air and sea support.
A helicopter left the Royal Air Force's Prestwick base in Scotland, and a Nimrod long-range sea patrol plane was being dispatched, a navy spokesman told AFP.
Neil Smith, a spokesman for the Faslane submarine base told the BBC that a navy auxiliary vessel, the Wave Knight, was also on its way to the scene, and that a type-23 frigate, the HMS Montrose, was also being prepared for dispatch along with tug boat support.
In Ireland the marine ministry said it had been asked by British authorities to prepare a refueling facility for possible use.
The HMCS Chicoutimi, an Upholder Class diesel-electric-propelled submarine, is one of four built for the British Royal Navy in the 1980s before being sold in refitted form to Canada in 2000.
Its official handover only took place on Saturday at a ceremony at Faslane.
British and Canadian military leaders oversaw the ceremony to rename the conventional submarine, which was previously called HMS Upholder.
The vessel was on its way to Halifax, in the eastern Canadian province of Nova Scotia, when the fire broke out.