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INS Sindhurakshak sinks after a series of explosions, dealing major blow to Navy

Chances of Survival slim.

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In one of the worst disasters to have struck the Indian Navy, 18 naval personnel were dead after a series of explosions rocked its submarine INS Sindhurakshak at Naval Dockyard around midnight on Tuesday.

The massive explosion was followed by a fire which raged on for over two hours before it was brought under control by the dock fire personnel. Naval divers had a tough time undertaking the rescue operation.

Sources said it would be a sheer miracle if there are any survivors. Three sailors who managed to jump into the sea were admitted to the naval hospital, INHS Asvini, in Colaba and were discharged on Wednesday.

Defence minister AK Antony and Chief of Naval Staff Admiral DK Joshi rushed to Mumbai to make an on-the-spot assessment. They said a board of inquiry has been constituted to find the cause of the “acccident”.

However, Joshi said the batteries were recharged three days ago. Sources said standard operating procedures (SOPs) were not followed at the time of recharging the batteries.
Joshi said chances of sabotage appeared to be remote.

Naval authorities were cagey about disclosing the names of the three officers (two of them married) and the men who are trapped in the twisted pieces of metal which were until 24 hours ago the pride of the Indian Navy. The submarine was manufactured in Russia and had rejoined the Indian Navy in April this year after refitting with sophisticated equipment for electronic warfare, surveillance, and firing. Two incidents had taken place on this submarine in the past, but both of them were described as minor by defence authorities.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan accompanied Antony on the site visit.

“I have come here to express my solidarity with the Indian Navy. In the midnight a major tragedy had taken place. The Navy has ordered a board of inquiry (BoA) into the incident to find out as to what transpired and led to the incident. I offer my condolences to the affected families of the sailors. All humanely possible support and the assistance will be provided. I also express thanks to Maharashtra CM and government for responding swiftly at the time of crises”, Antony told mediapersons.

Eyebrows were raised in naval circles because Antony offered his condolences even as naval divers were working hard to look for survivors.

Chavan said, “I have visited the site where the incident occurred. I express my deep sympathy to the families affected due to this tragedy. Maharashtra government has ordered all the emergency services to be on standby. We are with naval and armed forces as and when they require our help.”

Navy chief D K Joshi during the interaction with media, said, “Submarines require periodical charging of battery. In this case, battery of Sindhurakshak was charged only three days ago. We are awaiting report of the board of enquiry which will wrap up their inquiry in four weeks time to ascertain what caused the fire and hence it will be premature for us to comment with certainty that problem with the battery caused explosion.”

Commenting on the three naval officers and 15 sailors who were in the submarine at the time of the incident, Joshi said, “They remains untraced as of now, but I hope they would have survived the tragedy. Our operation to locate them is underway. There is a possibility that some of them could have found the life safety kit which was available in the sub marine and had taken use of it. We cannot lose hope at this moment.”

“Divers have been removing the water from inside and they had managed to breach the first hatch of the submarine. Now they are in the process of trying to create three watertight compartments which they will use to try and lighten the vessel so it floats over the surface,” Joshi said.“Among three officers, while one second-in-command; one is a signal officer and one is an anti-warfare officer. Two of three officers are married. There were 15 sailors in,” said Joshi.

Joshi told media that it could be the fire spread rapidly in the submarine so they could not able to contact with the sailors and officers.

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