INS Visakhapatnam won’t miss deadline

A day after a fire occurred at an under-construction Naval warship INS ‘Visakhapatnam’  at Mazgaon Dockyard here, a senior official on Saturday said it would not affect the schedule of the ambitious ‘Project 15-B’ under which four warships are being manufactured.

Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. (MDSL), which constructs warships and submarines for the Indian Navy, said the extent of the damage in the Friday fire is being ascertained. A “minor fire” had broken out in yard 12704 in the dock in south Mumbai at 4 pm, in which a contractual worker died due to asphyxia and burn injuries while another worker suffered “minor burn” injuries.

Seeking to allay concerns on whether the fire could delay the timely commissioning of warships, a senior MSDCL official said the project would be executed as per the deadlines.