Fire aboard ship at RIMPAC; other participating ships responding

At approximately 8 a.m. this morning the officials received “reports of a fire and potential injuries” aboard a ship participating in the biennial Rim of the Pacific Exercise according to a statement provided by a RIMPAC spokesperson.

The statement did not provide information on what nationality the vessel was or how many injuries occurred but the spokesperson said more details will be released later. The statement said that “the combined RIMPAC Task Force is currently providing support to the vessel.”

RIMPAC is the world’s largest recurring naval exercise and this year’s iteration is the largest since the exercise began with five nations in 1971. This year 26 nations are participating in the exercise with 38 surface ships, four submarines, more than 170 aircraft, 30 drones and 25,000 personnel in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California from June 29 to Aug. 4.