A DIESEL-POWERED Indian submarine exploded and sank early Wednesday (August 14) in a dock in Mumbai, leaving rescuers scrambling to find 18 sailors who were on board.
The INS Sindhurakshak had been returned by Russia less than a year ago after a major refit and was submerged after the accident, navy sources said.
The accident comes just days after New Delhi trumpeted the launch of its first domestically produced aircraft carrier and the start of sea trials for its first Indian-made nuclear submarine.
Grainy and shaky amateur video footage taken by a witness showed the fierce explosion which lit up the sky at the naval dockyard shortly after midnight.
“The cause of the explosion is not known. We are searching for the 18 personnel,” navy spokesman Narendra Kumar Vispute told reporters.
He said divers had been deployed once the flames were extinguished by fire trucks which rushed to the scene and battled the blaze for several hours.
“Some sailors and other personnel who were in the vicinity of the submarine have been admitted to INHS Asvini (naval hospital) with injuries,” said navy spokesman PVS Satish.
“Eighteen sailors were on board the submarine, they have not been evacuated yet,” Satish told reporters.
In February 2010, the INS Sindhurakshak also suffered a fire while docked in Visakhapatnam in southern India, killing a 24-year-old sailor and leaving two others with burns.
“There were two to three explosions and the night sky lit up briefly,” said eyewitness Dharmendra Jaiswal, who manages a public toilet near the dockyard and was sleeping there overnight.
“There was a lot of smoke and I thought it was some major repair work,” he told reporters.
There were fears that the explosion on Wednesday might have damaged other navy vessels in the dockyard, a colonial-era facility with civilian and military sections that employs more than 10,000 people.
The navy ordered an inquiry into the cause of the explosion.
Rahul Bedi, a defence expert with IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly, told reporters the submarine was commissioned from Russia in 1997 and lacked some modern safety equipment common to newer vessels.
“They don’t have escape routes in the event of accidents unlike some of the modern submarines,” he said.
“The major concern is of India’s submarine capability depreciating fast. I think out of 14 diesel-electric subs, 12 are operational,” he said.
“That’s very inadequate and a big operational drawback for the Indian navy,” he added.
The Mumbai dockyard, which is a restricted area, was closed to media.
INS Sindhurakshak is a kilo-class submarine which normally operates with a crew of 53 people and can sail on its own for 45 days, the Indian navy website says.
India’s defence minister said on Wednesday there were fatalities when a diesel-powered submarine exploded and sank at a dock in Mumbai.
“I feel sad about those navy personnel who have lost their lives in service of the country,” AK Antony told reporters in New Delhi.
The minister did not say how many people were killed in the explosion and fire that occurred shortly after midnight on Wednesday morning.
The Russian firm that refitted the Indian submarine which exploded and sank in Mumbai dock with 18 sailors on board said on Wednesday the craft had been fully operational when returned to India in January.
A spokesman for the Russian Zvyozdochka ship repair company told RIA Novosti that “certain concerns” were raised when the Russian-made INS Sindhurakshak was inspected by experts at the Severonisk port on the Barents Sea.
But he said India raised no objections about the state of the diesel-powered vessel when receiving it from Russia.
“We signed a contract for a light overhaul and modernisation in June 2010, and completed (the refit) in January 2013,” the unidentified Zvyozdochka spokesman told RIA Novosti.
The INS Sindhurakshak is still covered by a Russian warranty and eight Zvyozdochka employees were currently in the Mumbai port where the vessel sank early Wednesday.
“We still have no information about what really happened there,” the Zvyozdochka spokesman said.
