Yet another Navy ship mishap, one commander dies

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Mar 7, 2014: Indian Navy was hit by yet another mishap today with gas leakage taking place on a ship in Mazagaon Dock Limited (MDL) in Mumbai, leading to the death of a Commander-rank officer and hospitalisation of some others.

INS Kolkata-class destroyer ship Yard-701, being built by the MDL, suffered malfunction in its Carbon Dioxide unit while undergoing machinery trials, leading to gas leakage, sources said.

One Navy commander died and some others were taken ill and hospitalised in today’s incident.

The mishap took place just more than a week after fire and smoke incident on INS Sindhuratna off the Mumbai coast, in which two officers lost their lives and seven sailors were taken ill.

This is the 12th mishap involving Navy’s assets over the last seven months.
The biggest mishap occurred when the INS Sindhurakshak sank inside the Mumbai harbour killing all 18 personnel on board on August 14.

Earlier this month, INS Airavat, an amphibious warfare vessel, ran aground after which the commanding officer was stripped of his command duties.

After the sinking of the INS Sindhurakshak, one of the mishaps involved INS Betwa which was damaged after probably hitting some underwater object.

India’s leading minesweeper, the INS Konkan that was undergoing repairs in Vizag, also caught fire and suffered major damage to its interiors. The Pondicherry-class minesweeper was getting a refit at a dry dock when the incident occurred.

After the Sindhuratna incident on February 26, Navy Chief Admiral D K Joshi resigned taking "moral responsibility" over the spate of mishaps involving naval warships.