A fire on one of the Russian navy's deep-sea submersibles killed 14 sailors, the Russian Defence Ministry said Tuesday without giving the cause of the blaze or saying if there were survivors.

The ministry didn't name the vessel that caught fire Monday. Russian media reported it was Russia's most secret submarine, a nuclear-powered vessel designed for sensitive missions at great ocean depths.

The Defence Ministry said in a statement that the fire broke out while the submersible was measuring sea depths in Russia's territorial waters and the vessel was at the Arctic port of Severomorsk, the main base of Russia's Northern Fleet, Tuesday. An investigation was underway, it said.

The ministry said the fire was put out due to the self-sacrifice of crew members. It didn't say how many people were on board the submersible.

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