Five days after the multiple explosions and resultant fire on board INS Sindhurakshak claimed the lives of 18 sailors, the Navy divers on Monday extricated the body of the seventh crew member from the sunken submarine’s wreckage, even as they continued their intense search for the remaining bodies.
A postmortem on the seventh recovered body was conducted at the State-run JJ Hospital, from where DNA samples taken from the body on which autopsy was conducted were sent to Central Forensic laboratory (CFl) for profiling and matching with those the close family members of the sailors killed in the submarine disaster.
The disaster had struck INS Sindhurakshak at 0010 hours of August 14, when a low-intensity explosion rocked the vessel, followed by two major simultaneous explosions that in turn sparked a hug fire inside the diesel-electric submarine, trapping all 18 on-duty sailors. Three sailors, who were on watch duty on top of the submarine - had escaped with minor injuries.
The Navy divers have been making tardy progress in their search operations, owing to poor visibility, restricted space and jammed hatches that have impeded their free movement inside the sunken submarine. The divers on Sunday managed to break open the heat-fused hatches leading to forward compartment of INS Sindhurakshak, after recovering the body of sixth killed sailor near the control room of sunken submarine on Saturday night.
The success came a day after the divers gained a second access to the submarine late on Saturday night when they successfully pried open the rear escape hatch which was submerged below water and jammed due to high temperatures. This operation was challenging but critical. Meanwhile, the family members of the 18 sailors are camping on the naval premises here. They are being provided periodic updates on the progress of search, by the Navy Family Support Cell functionaries. In a related development, the professional salvers from reputed companies are conducting preliminary surveys to salvage the sunken submarine. The salvage operation will get underway after the recovery of the all 18 bodies from the wreckage of INS Sindhurakshak.