After 48 hours of continuous search operations inside the ill-fated INS Sindhurakshak, the Navy divers on Friday managed to recover four badly-charred and “severely disfigured” bodies from the vessel’s second compartment, even as Defence authorities virtually ruled out the possibility of any Navy personnel trapped in the explosion-rocked submarine surviving Wednesday’s disaster.
“The state of the recovered bodies and conditions within the submarine lead us to a firm conclusion that finding any surviving personnel within the submarine is unlikely… The Navy will continue to search every inch of the submerged submarine till all bodies are either located or it can be stated with finality that no bodies remain to be found,” Defence Ministry spokesperson Narendra Vispute said.
While three bodies were located and extricated from the second compartment of the submarine in the morning, Navy sources said another body had been sighted and was in the process of being brought to the surface. Three of the bodies were initially sent to INHS Asvini, the Naval hospital at Colaba in south Mumbai, for possible DNA identification. However, owing to lack of DNA identification facilities at INHS Asvini, two of the three bodies were taken to JJ Hospital for post-mortem and DNA sampling.
"We received two bodies from INHS Asvini at 7.35 pm. We are conducting post-mortem on these bodies. Simultaneously, we are taking DNA samples from these bodies and sending them to the Forensic Science laboratory at Kalina (in north Mumbai) for analysis," Dean of JJ Hospital TP lahane told The Pioneer.
Naval authorities were fast giving up hopes of the divers recovering more bodies from the gutted submarine."The damage and destruction within the submarine, especially around the control room area indicates that the feasibility of locating bodies in the forward part of the submarine is also very remote as the impact of the explosion and the extremely high temperatures, which melted steel within, would have incinerated the bodies too," a Defence Press release said.
The city police have, meanwhile, registered an accidental death case in connection with Wednesday's Sindhurakshak disaster."Based on a complaint lodged with us by a Naval doctor Gopal Singh Rajput, a case of accidental death under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code has been registered in the Cuffe Parade police station," Additional Police Commissioner Krishna Prakash said.
The Navy had late on Thursday released the names of all the 18 sailors, including three officers, trapped inside the sunken submarine.The Navy divers began the rescue operations hours after INS Sindhurakshak - rocked by two major explosions first and engulfed by a massive fire subsequently - went into the water from the bow end and settled down on the sea bed.
Having pried open the main hatch using a blow torch, the divers entered INS Sindhurakshak on Wednesday night and have since been working continuously to gain access to all the compartments in the submarine. "The boiling waters inside initially prevented divers from entering the submarine. Access to the inner compartments of the submarine was made almost impossible due to jammed doors and hatches, distorted ladders, oily and muddy waters, resulting in total darkness and zero visibility even with high power underwater lamps," the Defence spokesperson said, explaining the difficulties faced by the divers.
"Distorted and twisted metal within a very restricted space further worsened conditions for the divers. This resulted in very slow and laboured progress. Only one diver could work at a time to clear the path to gain access. After 36 hours of continuous diving effort in these conditions, Navy divers finally reached the second compartment behind the conning tower in the early hours of Friday," the Defence Ministry spokesperson said."Three bodies have been located and extricated from the submarine from this compartment. The bodies are severely disfigured and not identifiable due to severe burns," the spokesperson said.
The Navy is currently concentrating on gaining access to the interiors of the submarine to locate and extricate any remaining bodies that may still be trapped within."Salvage of the submarine would only be attempted thereafter for which many alternatives including deploying professional salvers are also being considered. However, at present, locating bodies is the top priority," Vispute said.Meanwhile, the Navy is providing regular updates about the progress of the operation to the families of the 18 sailors, who were inside INS Sindhurakshak at the time of the disaster.