Mumbai: Two sailors, who went missing on Wednesday on the accident-hit INS Sindhuratna submarine, are confirmed to be dead, a report said on Thursday. INS Sindhuratna reached Mumbai coast this morning and attempts were made to open the sealed compartments where Lt Commander Kapish Muwal and Lt Manoranjan Kumar were believed to be trapped.
An official said the condition of the submarine has been described as safe. Seven Indian Navy personnel were injured and at least two went missing on Wednesday after smoke filled a compartment in the INS Sindhuratna submarine that was underwater.
There were 94 sailors on board the submarine when smoke was reported in the sailors’ accommodation early Wednesday, about 50 nautical miles (80 km) in the Arabian Sea.
Seven sailors were airlifted by helicopter and shifted in an unconscious state to the naval hospital, INS Asvini, in south Mumbai. Their condition is reported to be stable.
A Western Naval Command release said the submarine was “at sea off Mumbai for routine training and workup (inspection)”.
Refitted and renovated in Mumbai in December 2013, the INS Sindhuratna was on a training exercise to familiarise the crew with operations of the Russian-built vessel.
The vessel was underwater at the time of the incident and it was not fitted with weapons of any kind as it was on a training and familiarisation mission. The Indian Navy has ordered an inquiry into the incident – the tenth in recent times – which has hit its elite fleet of submarines.
The biggest accident involved the fire on the INS Sindhurakshak and the subsequent sinking of the submarine in the Mumbai harbour on August 14 last year, killing all 18 personnel aboard.
Bureau Report
Leave a Reply