New Delhi, Nov. 6: A sailor drowned and four others were missing after an Indian Navy vessel sank just outside the Visakhapatnam naval dockyard around 8pm today.
The small boat, displacing about 110 tonnes, was a torpedo recovery vessel (TRV), used to stow the water-cutting missiles that are fired during training. They used to be called the Astravahini class.
The sinking of TRV A-72 highlights the obsolescence in the naval fleet. The auxiliary vessel was the second of its class, commissioned in 1983 — it was over three decades old.
“The vessel was on a routine mission to recover practice torpedoes fired by fleet ships during a routine exercise when she experienced flooding in one of her compartments,” said navy spokesperson Capt. Dalip Kumar Sharma.
Visakhapatnam is the headquarters of the Indian Navy’s Eastern Command.
As many as 28 personnel were on board the TRV at the time of the accident. Twenty-three sailors were rescued. Search and rescue vessels are looking for the missing.
TRV A-72 was made by Goa Shipyard Ltd, a defence public sector unit. It was 23 metres long and 6.5 metres at the beam.
The navy has been through a series of mishaps since August last year, when its submarine, the INS Sindhurakshak, sank in Mumbai. Earlier this year, the then chief of naval staff, Adm. D.K. Joshi, resigned from office after a fire in another submarine killed two men.
The naval dockyard in Visakhapatnam had taken a heavy beating in Cyclone Hudhud last month.
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