A fire broke out on a Canadian submarine off the coast of Ireland on Tuesday, slightly injuring three crew members and knocking out the craft's diesel engines, officials in Canada and Britain said.
The fire on board the HMCS Chicoutimi was quickly extinguished and the three crew members only suffered from smoke inhalation, said a spokeswoman for the Canadian navy.
The Chicoutimi, one of four trouble-plagued second-hand submarines which Canada bought from Britain, was on its way to the port of Halifax with 57 people on board when the fire broke out. Canada does not have nuclear weapons.
A Canadian official said the submarine was underwater, then surfaced after the fire broke out.
"The cause of the fire has not yet been determined ... the submarine is currently without propulsion north-west of Ireland," said the Canadian navy spokeswoman.
In London, a British spokesman said the craft was some 80 miles (135 km) off the Irish coast.
A Royal Air Force Nimrod patrol plane and three ships from the Royal Navy were on their way to the scene in case an evacuation was needed, but this was unlikely, he said.
The fire is the latest in a long line of problems to hit the submarines, which have been plagued by serious mechanical problems such as cracks in the diesel exhaust valves and a number of leaks. They are mostly confined to port.
Ottawa insists it got a good deal when it agreed to buy the second-hand submarines for C$750 million ($595 million) in 1998. But opposition legislators say the purchase reflects incompetence by the Liberal government.