Navy submarine sinks after serial blasts in Mumbai dockyard, 18 sailors still missing

A smaller intensity explosion was followed by two massive blasts causing a major fire in the Russianmade submarine Admiral D K Joshi Chief of Naval Staff told reporters after visiting the dockyard in Colaba Joshi who accompanied Defence Minister A K Antony did not rule out the possibility of sabotage but said quotIndications so far do not support such a theoryquot The dieselelectric submarine was commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1997 at a cost of around Rs 400 crore and had gone through a Rs 450crore extensive upgrade in Russia under a contract signed in 2010 The warship rejoined the navy on April 29 this year The boat displaces 2300 tonnes carries 52 crew members has a top speed of 19 knots 35 km per hour and diving depth of 300 metres It was fully armed at the time of the mishap navy sources said With the 18 navy personnel still missing nearly 17 hours after the mishap Joshi said quotWhile we can hope for the best we have to be prepared for the worst quotMiracles do happen There might be airpockets to aid their survival We know that so much time has gone byquot he said Joshi said three other personnel who were on board the vessel but not inside jumped to safety but were too shocked to make a statementu00a0 A board of inquiry has been constituted to probe the reason behind the blasts and it is expected to submit its report within four weeks he said Divers from the navy Joshi said have been able to cut through the vessel as all hatches had fused due to the fire and were looking for the missing personnel but without any success so far The deafening blast followed by a fire occurred shortly after midnight on the INS Sindhurakshak submarine at the naval dockyard officials said TV grabs showed a huge ball of flame Some INS Sindhurakshak sailors have been rushed to naval hospital INHS Ashvini in Colaba The explosion on the submarine comes within days of India getting its first indigenous aircraft carrier Vikrant Aug 12 and the nuclear reactor that propels Arihant the country39s first ballistic missile submarine going critical Aug 9 A second submarine also berthed at the dockyard escaped any major harm after the fire engulfed INS Sindhurakshak Mumbai fire brigade sources said At least 16 fire tenders of Mumbai Fire Brigade and Mumbai Port Trust were rushed to assist the naval fire brigade to douse the conflagration the smoke emanating from which could be seen in many parts of south Mumbai A fire brigade official said that around 3 am the blaze had been brought under control and prevented from spreading to other vessels docked in the vicinity Deputy Chief Fire Officer P S Rahandale said he saw one submarine was engulfed in fire while another submarine which was about 10 to 15 feet away was quotpartiallyquot on fire Rahandale said his team of firemen and Navy39s Fire Brigade personnel immediately quotattackedquot the flames that were near the second sub From the dozens of fire tenders a wall of highpressure stream of water was built between Sindhurakshak and the second sub with the help of eight to nine water cannons The second submarine was then moved to a safe place Naval chief Joshi said the flames that leapt from the sinking vessel touched the outer casing of the second sub also a Sindhughoshclass submarine like Sindhurakshak There was no damage to the second sub he said adding the vessel was quickly taken to safety