TEN sailors needed medical treatment after a blaze on the Royal Navy’s “cursed carrier” HMS Queen Elizabeth.
Medics treated the injured after fire ripped through mess decks and crew sleeping areas — destroying 100 beds.
It is understood the blaze began in an air conditioning unit on the problem-plagued aircraft carrier shortly after 11pm last Friday.
Crew fought the flames with extinguishers before compartments were sealed off to stop the fire’s spread.
The incident was not declared over until 4.30am.
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A source said: “The order came to clear lower decks after the fire broke out and everyone mustered in the hangar for a headcount.
“Some sailors were drunk as they were off-duty and it was Friday night.
"Those that were fit enough were given jobs to help with the fire.
"Sprinkler systems eventually extinguished it.”
The £3.2billion carrier was moored in Glenmallan in Scotland to unload ammunition when the blaze began.
A Navy spokesman: “An isolated fire was quickly brought under control.
This will have no impact on HMS Queen Elizabeth’s commitments.”
It is the latest setback for the 65,000-ton carrier, which pulled out of Nato war games last month with a faulty propeller shaft.
She suffered leaks in 2017 and 2019. In 2021, one of her jets toppled into the sea.
