Fire mishap on INS Sindhurakshak due to explosion in battery: Navy

The fire mishap on INS Sindhurakshak in Visakhapatnam that left a sailor dead and two others injured was caused by an explosion in its battery compartment, Navy officials said in New Delhi today.

The fire mishap on INS Sindhurakshak in Visakhapatnam that left a sailor dead and two others injured was caused by an explosion in its battery compartment, Navy officials said in New Delhi on Saturday.

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Sindhurakshak, a Russian-origin Kilo class submarine, was in the Visakhapatnam harbour for a routine maintenance when the mishap occurred on Friday evening.

"It was due to a defective battery and Leading Electrical Technician Kump Dand was killed," the official said.

India had bought the 2300-tonne submarine from Russia as part of an early 1980s deal and commissioned it in 1997. It
is the ninth of the 10 Sindhugosh class diesel-electric powered vessel that the Navy has in its 16-vessel submarine
fleet.

Sindhurakshak is scheduled for a major mid-life refit later this year as part of a programme for this class of
vessels which began in 1997 with Sindhuvir.

In January 2008, another vessel from this class, INS Sindhugosh, collided with a merchant vessel off Mumbai while
participating in a naval exercise.

The boat collided with the cargo ship as it was surfacing in a silent mode with its radio and radar switched
off.

The damage caused to the submarine during the mishap resulted in it being off service for about a month.