Mumbai: In the Indian Navy's worst peacetime disaster, the 18 missing submariners of INS Sindhurakshak that partially sank after two massive explosions and fire onboard the vessel on the intervening night of Tuesday-Wednesday are yet to be traced. Poor visibility, restricted spaces, displacement of most equipment from their original location and the melted hull are hampering the efforts by Navy divers to contact or sight the missing personnel.
Hope is fading fast as it has been almost 40 hours since the accident even though Navy divers entered INS Sindurakshak on August 14 evening. The heat of the explosion has melted parts of the internal hull deforming the submarine hatches and preventing access to several compartments.
Heavy duty pumps are being used to pump out the water from the submarine. There has been large scale ingress of sea water into the submarine due to the explosion.
The trapped personnel have not yet been sighted or recovered. The diving efforts are hampered by poor visibility inside submarine which is filled with water, extremely restricted access and displacement of most equipment from their original location. Heavy duty pumps are being used to pump out the water from the submarine. There has been large scale ingress of sea water into the submarine due to the explosion," a Navy release said.
Navy spokesperson Narendra Kumar Vispute said that families of the trapped submariners have been informed about the tragedy. Chief of Naval Staff Admiral DK Joshi had on Wednesday evening hoped for the best but he added that he was prepared for the worst. While Admiral Joshi hoped that the trapped sailors may have taken shelter in an area where there would be an air pocket, he added that submarines disasters tend to be "catastrophic".
INS Sindhurakshak, one of India's most advanced diesel-electric submarine, caught fire following two massive explosions and sank in the dockyard in Mumbai early on Wednesday morning.
While not ruling out the possibility of a sabotage that has led to the incident, the Navy Chief had said that the board of enquiry will find out if what went wrong. Though he had maintained that looking at the prima facie evidence, the indicators did not support the sabotage theory.
The fire broke out on Tuesday night after explosions occurred in the front section of the submarine's torpedo room. There were torpedoes and missiles with warheads onboard. The front section of the submarine was left completely twisted and crumpled due to the explosion. The water entered the forward compartment of the vessel after the explosion sinking the vessel completely in the water.
Rescue operations started early Wednesday morning with 16 fire tenders being sent to the dockyard. Navy divers were sent to rescue the sailors who were on board after the fire was brought under control after two hours.
INS Sindhurakshak is a Sindhughosh class submarines (Nato code name Kilo class) with the Navy and is one of the latest. All Sindhughosh class submarines were built under a contract between Rosvooruzhenie and the Indian Defence Ministry. The submarines have displacement with full load of 2,300 tons while the dived displacement is 3,100 tons.
The maximum diving depth is 300 meters, top speed of 18 knots, and the submarines of this class are able to operate solo for 45 days with a crew of 53. The total complement of personnel is 68 including seven officers. The submarine is 73 meter long with a beam of 10 meter.
INS Sindhurakshak is a diesel-electric submarine and underwent $80 million upgrade in Russia June 2010 with sea trials starting in October 2012. The submarine has in-built electronic warfare systems, control systems and integrated weapon control system. The submarine carries new Russian missile system Club-S with 200-km cruise missile range.
The destruction of the submarine will affect Navy's operational preparedness as India has a small submarine fleet which has been depleting over the years.
The old Foxtrot submarines have been phased out and the Scorpene programme has also been delayed considerably. Following the INS Sindhurakshak explosion the Navy is left with only 14 submarines.
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