Iran Press/America: Federal and Navy firefighters are continuing to battle a blaze aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard more than 15 hours after the fire first broke out Sunday morning.
There were 160 people on board the amphibious assault ship docked at the San Diego Naval Base in California when a fire started and there was an internal explosion around 8:30 a.m., said the commander of Expeditionary Strike Group Three, Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, in a press conference on Sunday night, CNN reported.
Naval Surface Forces, US Pacific Fleet tweeted Monday that 34 sailors and 23 civilians have been treated for minor injuries, including heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation. Five remain in the hospital in stable condition.
Everyone on board was accounted for, Sobeck told reporters. The ship, which has a crew of 1,000, was undergoing maintenance.
San Diego Fire Chief Colin Stowell told CNN's Erica Hill that the USS Bonhomme Richard could burn for days "down to the waterline" after an explosion on Sunday.
Stowell said: "As soon as the personnel started getting off the ship, there was an explosion."
"The Navy is the only one that will work from the pier side as well as the harbor PD on the fireboats, working from the waterside to contain the heat of it," according to Stowell.
Flames are being fueled by office supplies and other items from the lower vehicle storage area where the fire started, Sobek said.
While investigators know where the fire started, they have not yet determined the cause of the fire. There was a report of an internal explosion caused by over-pressurization, Sobeck said.
The Bonhomme Richard is an amphibious assault ship designed to support US Marine Corps operations.
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