Fire in cables led to INS Sindhuratna mishap: Navy

Submarine INS Sindhuratna docked at the Naval dockyard in Mumbai. The Board of Inquiry (BoI) into the February 26 mishap has found that the fire in INS Sindhuratna was caused due to problems in the cable and not the battery compartment, as was being feared earlier. File photo: Vivek Bendre

The fire in submarine INS Sindhuratna, which resulted in the death of two officers and severely affected seven other sailors last week, was caused due to problems in the cables of the vessel.

The Board of Inquiry (BoI) into the February 26 mishap has found that the fire in INS Sindhuratna was caused due to problems in the cable and not the battery compartment, as was being feared earlier, Navy officials said in New Delhi.

The investigations are still going on into the incident and other two mishaps involving the Kilo Class submarines of the Navy in the last seven months, they said.

The battery pit has been found to be fully safe and the fire took place in the compartment above it, Navy officials said.

Former Navy Chief Admiral D.K. Joshi resigned after the mishap involving the Sindhuratna taking moral responsibility of the ten mishaps involving maritime force’s assets.

The Sindhuratna is one of the navy’s fleet of nine Kilo class submarines. A tenth submarine, the INS Sindhurakshak exploded and sank in the naval dockyard on August 14, 2013 killing 18 crewmen on board. The Sindhuratna was moored nearby and suffered minor fire damage when the Sindhurakshak exploded.