Mumbai: Indian Navy divers are searching for two missing sailors after Indian Naval Ship Betwa, a guided missile frigate that was undergoing a refit at Mumbai’s naval dockyard, slipped on the dock while unlocking Monday at about 1.50pm, said a naval spokesperson.
Fourteen personnel have been rescued from the dock with minor injuries and all are stable, said Captain D K Sharma, Naval spokesperson. “Only two crew members of INS Betwa are missing and divers are looking for them. One is suspected to be inside and other outside in dock,” he said.
The 3,850-tonne, 126-metre long Brahmaputra class guided missile frigate, which was inducted into service in 2004, apparently tipped over and is lying on its side at the dockyard.
“There has been an incident in the Cruiser Graving Dock, Naval Dockyard Mumbai, involving INS Betwa today. The incident occurred during unlocking evolution wherein it is suspected that the dock blocks mechanism has failed,” said an official release.
Further details of the fate of crew members are awaited.
The same ship, in January 2014, ran aground and collided with an unidentified object while approaching the Mumbai naval base. The sonar system of the frigate was cracked, leading to faulty readings and an ingress of saltwater into sensitive equipment.
Several accidents, some minor and a few major, have occurred involving naval ships in the past 15 years.
It was on December 4 that Navy Day was celebrated with much grandeur at the Gateway of India, a mega event that follows Navy Week involving several events and activities for the public, especially schoolchildren.
