Hopes of miracle fade, 4 bodies pulled out of Sindhurakshak

MUMBAI: Hopes of a miracle to find alive naval personnel trapped inside sunken INS Sindhurakshak seemed to be fading with rescuers pulling out four badly disfigured bodies from the Navy's frontline submarine on Friday.

More than two days after serial explosions on the vessel, carrying 18 naval personnel, triggered a massive blaze, naval divers have extricated four "severely disfigured" bodies since this morning, a Defence spokesman said.

The bodies, according to spokesman Narendra Vispute, are so badly charred that on-the-spot identification was not possible.

The bodies have been shifted to naval hospital INS Ashwini for DNA profiling to facilitate identification.

"Miracles do happen....There may be some air pocket or some may have got access to breathing sacks," Navy Chief Admiral D K Joshi had said after inspecting the site of the disaster along with Defence Minister A K Antony on Wednesday.

However, a Navy release this morning painted a grim picture about the possibility of finding any survivors inside the Russia-made underwater craft which sank partially after exploding.

"The damage and the destruction within the submarine around the control room area indicate that the feasibility of locating bodies of the personnel in the forward part of the submarine is also very remote as the explosion and very high temperatures, which melted steel within, would have incinerated the bodies too," it said.