The Government on Thursday said sabotage could not be ruled out behind the explosions on the Indian Navy’s submarine INS Sindhurakshak on August 14 at a Mumbai dockyard.
Making this admission for the first time, Defence Minister AK Antony said the incident has cast a shadow on the force’s capability to safeguard the country’s maritime interests. Antony was replying to clarifications in the Rajya Sabha on his August 19 statement about the worst submarine disaster in peace time that claimed lives of 18 Navy personnel on board.
He admitted that the destruction of the vessel has “cast a shadow on the capability of the Navy to safeguard interests in the vast coastlines and maritime area especially in the emerging security scenario in the Indian Ocean Region and extended region.” BJP leader Chandan Mitra said that from the beginning there was an effort to deny the sabotage angle despite the incident happening a day before Independence Day.
He also pointed out that Chinese Defence experts recently criticised India’s plans to build a blue water navy. He demanded that the sabotage angle must be probed and asked the Minister to clarify the terms of reference of the Board of Inquiry and its timeline. Pointing out that the Russian-made submarine was overhauled and retrofitted recently at a cost of $152 million, while the original cost was just $113 million, Mitra asked the Government to clarify the financial impact of the disaster.
He also asked what precautionary steps were being taken after the accident and the measures being taken to refurbish the Navy. Mitra was supported by Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal, who also charged that the Minister was sitting on files because he was afraid of controversy. Advocating that “too much honesty was not good,” he said delay in taking decisions was affecting the country’s Defence preparedness.
Antony said that the Government is also anxious to get to the truth behind the incident and the Navy has ordered a Court of Inquiry which will examine all aspects. "Nothing is ruled out. All aspects will be enquired by the Naval Board of Inquiry. At the moment we cannot say conclusively about any reason," he said. He added that water samples taken from the submarine had no traces of TNT.
The Navy has also ordered a study to assess the status of weapons on board the submarine for fear of any further explosions during salvage operations, he added. Of the 18 personnel on board the ill-fated vessel, bodies of eight had been found and post-mortem reports cited extensive burns as the cause of death.
Antony said that he would ask the Navy to treat this as a special case and provide all relief and compensation to the families of even those personnel whose bodies have not been retrieved as yet. Meanwhile, five international and Indian companies are involved in surveying the vessel for salvage and after the submarine is de-watered and brought up, a team of Russian experts would be involved in the investigations.
He said that Naval divers are submitting all the material "including metals and partially-burnt yellow coloured material that was found near the jetty. All material is being inspected by the Naval armament inspectors to ascertain its composition." About weapons still on board the submarine, he said a team comprising the chief of Naval Armament Depot and the commanding officer of a missile base has been set up.
"The team has been asked to carry out a detailed study to assess the state of explosives on board and quantify the risk associated with salvage operations because there is fear about further explosions. So, we are trying to clear that," he said.