4 killed in India nuclear submarine accident

India’s first indigenous nuclear submarine — the INS Arihant — that was scheduled to start final trial on Thursday — got off to an inauspicious start when four naval personnel were killed as it attempted to dock at Vishakhapatnam on Wednesday.

The incident happened around 11am, when the caisson (temporary docking gate) collapsed, killing two officers and two sailors. Commanders Ashwani Kumar, 47, and Ranbir Ranjan, 30, and sailors Madhu Babu, 31, and Rajesh, 30, suffered head injuries when the gate collapsed. They succumbed to their injuries later.

The navy has ordered a Board of Inquiry into the
incident.

Naval constructors and technical personnel were working on the caisson, which is around 50-60 feet high, when it collapsed because the valves of the dry dock gate of the Ship Building Centre malfunctioned.

INS Arihant was launched in 2009 and was undergoing criticality certification tests before being put to sea. She was being readied to move out for other trials before being commissioned.

Last December, Naval chief, Admiral Nirmal Verma had said that the submarine would be operational for deterrence patrols by 2012, thereby adding one more leg to India’s nuclear capability. Once the submarine was operational India would have the capability to launch nuke missiles from land, air and sea.