Navy hopeful of reusing sunken INS Sindhurakshak

NEW DELHI: Expressing hope of reusing the sunken INS Sindhurakshak submarine, the Navy today said its record was "not all that bad" in terms of accidents when compared to other navies in the world, soon after it was pulled up by Defence Minister AK Antony for the mishap.

"These (sinking of INS Vindhyagiri warship and INS Sindhurakshak) are isolated and separate cases. The reasons does not derive their linkage from previous cases. Operational risks are fraught in this business of armed forces.

"I would say that our record is not all that bad. We have had accidents there is no denying but if you compare with other navies...," Navy Chief Admiral DK Joshi said in reply to a query related to sinking of two warships in recent times.

The INS Sindhurakshak had sunk on August 14 in the Mumbai naval harbour after an explosion probably in its torpedo section killing all 18 personnel on board.

A Board of Inquiry is still on to find out causes behind the accident.

The Vindhyagiri had also sunk over couple of years ago while returning from a sea sortie.

Recently, addressing the Naval Commanders, the Defence Minister had said there was a need to "seriously reflect upon the unprecedented tragedy".

He had said that "it is the responsibility of the Navy to optimally operate and maintain these assets and hardware, as well as train its personnel suitably so that such national resources are optimally utilised and are not frittered away."

The Navy chief refused to give a direct reply on the statement of the Defence Minister when asked about frittering away of national resources.

On whether the Navy was also looking at reusing the sunken submarine after the salvage process, he said, "That option is open.

"A separate board would be formed the moment the ship is salvaged. That board would have naval architects and engineers, they would undertake a 100 per cent though hull survey."