Worsening weather has not deterred the Indian Navy ships from continuing their search on Sunday for the four missing personnel, including an officer, who were lost at sea following the sinking of a Naval auxiliary ship on Thursday night off the coast of Visakhapatnam.
Under the influence of a well marked depression off the Coast of Andhra Pradesh the sea has turned rough and the visibility is turning poor. The big ships are involved in the search and in case the visibility worsens we might focus more on the search from air, a Navy spokesperson explained.
We shall not give up our search, the spokesperson declared. Taking into consideration the prevailing drift and currents the search has been extended to 120 nautical miles. So far more than 1 lakh square km has been covered. The aircraft are doing low passes. The Navy has pressed into service nine ships and a few aircraft, including Boeing P8i, Dorniers, Seaking 42C and Chetak helicopters, are continuing the search through the day and night since Thursday night.
Indian Navy’s torpedo recovery vessel TRV-A72 sank 38 nautical km off Visakhapatnam on Thursday night. At the time of the incident there were 29 personnel on board. One sailor petty officer marine explosives James Jacob lost his life during the rescue operation and four personnel (one officer and three sailors) are still reported missing. Remaining 24 personnel have been safely brought ashore.
Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R K Dhowan is scheduled to visit the City on Sunday evening to console the family of the sailor who died in the rescue operation.
A Board of Inquiry headed by a Captain is in progress to investigate into the circumstances leading to the mishap.
