Indian navy ship sinks off east coast, one killed

Published November 7, 2014
Four other crew members are missing from the 28 personnel on board when the ship sank late on Thursday, a navy spokesman said.-Reuters/file
Four other crew members are missing from the 28 personnel on board when the ship sank late on Thursday, a navy spokesman said.-Reuters/file

NEW DELHI: A Indian torpedo recovery vessel sank off the coastal city of Visakhapatnam killing at least one person, the navy said on Friday, in the latest accident to raise concerns about the Asian power's ageing fleet.

Four other crew members are missing from the 28 personnel on board when the ship sank late on Thursday, a navy spokesman said.

“The remaining 23 personnel were rescued by the search and rescue ships,” the spokesman said.

The vessel was on an exercise to recover practice torpedoes fired by fleet ships, when flooding occurred in one of the compartments, the navy said in a statement.

The Indian navy has experienced a spate of accidents at a time when it is trying to modernise and expand its reach to keep up with the rising maritime ambitions of neighbour China.

The torpedo recovery vessel, a TRVA-72, was built by the Shipyard Limited in 1983, according to media reports.

Most of the country's fleet of more than a dozen submarines is in urgent need of modernisation.

The new government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to upgrade India's military equipment, much of which dates back to the Soviet era, as well as boosting domestic defence manufacturing.

Opinion

Editorial

Plugging the gap
06 May, 2024

Plugging the gap

IN Pakistan, bias begins at birth for the girl child as discriminatory norms, orthodox attitudes and poverty impede...
Terrains of dread
Updated 06 May, 2024

Terrains of dread

Restored faith in the police is unachievable without political commitment and interprovincial support.
Appointment rules
Updated 06 May, 2024

Appointment rules

If the judiciary had the power to self-regulate, it ought to have exercised it instead of involving the legislature.
Hasty transition
Updated 05 May, 2024

Hasty transition

Ostensibly, the aim is to exert greater control over social media and to gain more power to crack down on activists, dissidents and journalists.
One small step…
05 May, 2024

One small step…

THERE is some good news for the nation from the heavens above. On Friday, Pakistan managed to dispatch a lunar...
Not out of the woods
05 May, 2024

Not out of the woods

PAKISTAN’S economic vitals might be showing some signs of improvement, but the country is not yet out of danger....