Navy chief reviews damage to warship INS Brahmaputra at Mumbai dockyard
Officials said on Monday that fire-fighting units had pumped huge quantities of water to douse the flames
MUMBAI: Indian Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh Tripathi on Tuesday reviewed the damage to frontline warship INS Brahmaputra at the Mumbai naval dockyard, a day after it experienced “severe listing” to one side, with authorities struggling to bring it back to an upright position. Listing refers to a vessel tilting to one side after taking water in. Tripathi met senior officers and discussed steps forward, even as officials said that an inquiry has been ordered into the accident.
A fire was reported on board the frigate on July 21 when the ship was undergoing a refit at the dockyard, which the Navy said, was brought under control by the ship’s crew with the assistance of firefighters and other ships in the harbour by the morning of July 22. On Monday afternoon however, the ship experienced severe listing to one side, and despite efforts, could not be brought upright. One junior sailor also went missing.
Officials said on Monday that while the cause of the vessel tipping over towards port, or the left was not immediately known, fire-fighting units had pumped huge quantities of water to douse the flames. The 3,850-tonne multi-role frigate, the lead warship of the Brahmaputra class, suffered extensive damage and is likely to be out of action for several months, said one of the officials, who asked not to be named.
Navy officials said on Tuesday said that there was some preliminary evidence of mishandling the fire-fighting operations. “The water should have been removed to balance the ship.” A search is also underway for the missing junior sailor who is missing, with several diving teams pressed into rescue operations.
Speaking to PTI in Goa, Vice admiral Krishna Swaminathan said, “A lot of water was used to douse the fire, and perhaps the ship’s stability was upset because of this, and it tilted to one side and is resting on the jetty,” he said.
INS Brahmaputra was commissioned in 2000 and is designed to carry a team of 40 officers and 330 sailors, has medium-range, close-range and anti-aircraft guns, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles and torpedo launchers. It can also carry Sea King and Chetak helicopters. This is not the first time such an accident has occurred at the naval dockyard. In December 2016, INS Betwa tipped over and crashed on its side in the naval dockyard, killing two sailors. Fourteen other people in the dockyard were injured.
(With PTI inputs)