In yet another mishap involving an Indian naval vessel off the western coast of India, a fishing trawler hit the periscope of the submarine INS Sindhughosh during the intervening night of Thursday and Friday, in what was described as a “minor incident” by the Naval authorities.
The Indian Navy stated that the naval vessel involved in the mishap did not suffer any major damages. The “minor” incident took place when the submarine was involved in an exercise. “The exercise was being conducted in pitch dark conditions as required by the exercise prerequisites,” a Navy release said on Sunday night.
“The incident happened during the night between Thursday and Friday. No major damages to the submarine were reported. The submarine has since returned to Mumbai dock yard and repairs would be effected soon. All relevant authorities have been kept informed by Naval headquarters,” the release stated.
Though the exact location where the mishap took place was not immediate, there were unofficial versions that made rounds in the naval circles. While one version said that the incident happened off the Karvar coast, the other said it happened off the Mumbai coast. However, Navy spokesperson based in Mumbai refused to confirm or deny either of the versions vis-a-vis the location.
The latest is the second mishap that the Navy’s 2,500-tonne kilo-class submarine INS Sindhughosh has been involved in recent years. Earlier in January 2010, a ship had slammed into INS Sindhughosh, disabling the fighting machine. INS Sindhughosh, which had a crew of 53, had suffered extensive damage in the collision.
INS Sindhughosh is the first of the Kilo class subs acquired from Russia in 1986. The submarine is also equipped with indigenous systems. It is equipped with the 3M-54 Klub (SS-N-27) antiship cruise missiles with a range of 220 km. It is the only Indian submarine that can fire the missiles acquired from Russia in 2006.
There have been over a dozen mishaps involving an Indian Naval vessel since August 2013. While there were no causalities in majority of incidents, 21 officers and sailors were killed in three mishaps.
The last major disaster had struck INS Sindhurakshak at 0010 hours of August 14, 2013 when a low-intensity explosion rocked the vessel, followed by two major simultaneous explosions that in turn sparked a huge fire inside the diesel-electric submarine, trapping all 18 on-duty sailors. All the 18 Navy personnel were killed in the mishap.
Some of the major mishaps involving the Indian Navy warships witnessed since August last year include: On December 23, 2013, four persons were injured when a fishing trawler sank after colliding with Navy’s frontline frigate trawler INS Talwar near Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra’s coastal Konkan region.