INS Sindhurakshak tragedy: 200 tonnes of diesel on sunken sub spark worries of oil slick

The INS Sindhurakshak which exploded and sank at the naval dockyard on Wednesday still has over 200 tonnes of diesel in its tank apart from fuel oil batteries and other combustible even explosive material The final act Blinders were installed by the Navy yesterday during the salvage operation to recover bodies of the sailors who met with tragedy inside INS Sindhurakshak PicBipin Kokate The environmental risks the situation poses are nocent The huge chunk of mangled metal could be lethal for marine life in the area experts warn adding that an oil slick cannot be ruled out However an antipollution team of Coast Guard has already taken position at the spot of the disaster to control any emerging spill ALSO READ INS Sindhurakshak tragedy How 3 sailors narrowly escaped a watery grave INS Sindhurakshak tragedy Navy faces its dead identifying bodies a challenging task INS Sindhurakshak tragedy We revisit the late J Dey39s 2009 report on the submarine Rear Admiral Retd K Raja Menon a submarine specialist in the Navy who played an important role in acquiring the Kiloclass sub from Russia told MiD DAY from Delhi that the sunken craft was powered by a dieselelectric propulsion with two 1000 kW diesel generators and one 5500 HP propulsion motor All of this consumes a lot of fuel ldquoUsually it takes over 200 tonnes of diesel to charge the 400 batteries fitted in the engine Unlike a nuclear submarine which can be underwater for days a diesel sub needs to propel on surface for recharging batteriesrdquo Menon said ldquoApart from the diesel on board the submarine would have torpedo fuel missile fuel oxygen and hydrogenregenerating cylinders which are all combustible and might leak given the magnitude of the mishap Since it was a peacetime disaster the sub would not have been fully laden with torpedoes and missilesrdquo he said ldquoThe Type 877EKM has six 533 mm torpedo tubes and carries 18 heavyweight torpedoes six in the tubes and 12 on the racks with an automatic rapid loader Two targets can be engaged simultaneouslyrdquo he added Sticky seatuation Dr Jiyalal Jeshwar senior principal scientist at National Institute of Oceanography who has researched oil slicks along Mumbairsquos coast said there are chances of diesel and other fuels leaking out of the sunken sub into the sea Different dispersants should be used to control oil slicks he said If an oil spill persists for a long time 15 days or more oxygen concentration in seawater is reduced and part of the viscous liquid settles down on the seabed affecting benthic organisms dwelling at seabed and killing them Fact file gtgt INS Sindhurakashak was one of the 11 submarines built by Russia which got commissioned on Dec 24 1997 gtgt Sindhurakshak Type 877EKM was designed for antisubmarine and antisurface ship warfare ASW and ASuW Coast Guard keeps check on spill The Navy has approached the western regional HQ of the Coast Guard and requested for deploying their personnel to control the oil spill A senior Coast Guard officer said that a team of antipollution experts is stationed at the Naval Dockyard to check for a spill ldquoWe have already put river boom spill containment equipment at 200 metres from the spot of the incident to prevent oil from the submarine from entering into the deep sea Our team is alert 24x7 to control any untoward incidentrdquo he said MPCB collects samples Amar Durgule sub regional officer Mumbai 1 Maharashtra Pollution Control Board said that his team has collected two water samples of 25 litres each from the spot of the sunken submarine Other than that samples have been collected off Gateway of India Worli Girgaum and Juhu Chowpatty and sent for testing to the MPCB lab in Navi Mumbai ldquoEntry to the Naval Dockyard is restricted but we managed to collect samples even on Friday since any slick beyond permissible limits can be ascertained better in specimens gathered 2 to 3 days after the incidentrdquo he said ldquoWe will write to the Western Naval Command asking for a report on pollution control methods adopted to prevent contamination Also the Navy will be asked to dispose of all the batteries and other contaminators from the sub in a scientific manner We will ask for a report on itrdquou00a0