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Warship tips over after fire, search on for sailor
INS Brahmaputra experienced severe “listing” to the port side, and despite all efforts, it could not be brought to the upright position.
An Indian warship, the locally made INS Brahmaputra, tipped over at the naval dockyard in Mumbai on Tuesday after a fire broke out on board the vessel the previous day, and a search was on for a sailor who was on board the vessel and went missing during the incident, according to officials aware of the matter.
The cause of the vessel tipping over towards port, or the left, was not immediately know. Firefighting units had pumped huge quantities of water to douse the flames, the officials cited above said.
The 3,850-tonne multi-role frigate, the lead warship of the Brahmaputra class, suffered extensive damage and is likely to be out of action for several months, said one of the officials, who asked not to be named. It was at the dockyard for a refit.
An image on social media and TV channels showed the crippled frigate lying flat on its side at the berth, and officials confirmed that it was from the site.
The ship experienced severe “listing” to port side, and despite all efforts, it could not be brought to the upright position, the navy announced on Monday. “Listing” refers to a vessel tilting to one side after taking water in.
Navy chief Admiral Dinesh Tripathi briefed defence minister Rajnath Singh on the development, which may have damaged some key equipment and systems, HT has learnt.
The fire was brought under control by the ship’s crew with the assistance of firefighters from the naval dockyard and other ships in harbour by Monday morning, the navy said in its statement.
“Subsequently, in the afternoon, the ship experienced severe listing to one side (port side). Despite all efforts, the ship could not be brought to the upright position. The ship continued to list further alongside her berth and is presently resting on one side. All personnel have been accounted for except one junior sailor, for whom the search is in progress,” the statement said.
The navy has ordered an investigation into the incident. The “listing” could have been caused by the huge amounts of water pumped in to douse the fire or some water ingress into the vessel, though the former seems more likely in the absence of a collision,the officials said. “It is a serious incident. The extent of the damage will be known only after a thorough assessment after the frigate is brought to its upright position,” said a second official.
Follow-on actions including sanitisation checks for assessment of residual risk of fire were carried out, the navy statement added.
Fires can break out on board vessels during a refit as a lot of welding work goes on inside, said Admiral Arun Prakash (retd), a former navy chief.
“It all depends on how much water is pumped to extinguish the fire. One must be careful about it but sometimes there is no choice as you have to put out the fire at the earliest. During a refit, a vessel has no ammunition, but it does have some fuel inside,” Prakash added.
INS Brahmaputra is the first of the locally built Brahmaputra-class guided missile frigates. It was commissioned into the navy in April 2000, has a length of 125 metres, a beam of 16 metres and is manned by a crew of 370, including 40 officers.
The ship is fitted with various weapons including surface-to-surface and surface-to-air-missiles, anti-aircraft guns, and torpedoes.
Earlier in December 2016, INS Betwa, a Brahmaputra-class guided missile frigate, slipped on the dock blocks in Mumbai while undergoing repairs and the freak accident left two sailors dead and 14 injured. It was salvaged to its upright position at a cost of ₹20 crore in two-and-a-half months.
