Friday, Mar 07, 2014
Kolkata: An Indian Navy Commander died in an accident Friday on board a ship under construction at the Mazgaon dock in Mumbai.
According to initial reports, along with the officer, two more workers are declared “brain dead” aboard the yet-to-be-commissioned ship, one of three Kolkata class destroyers being built under the Navy’s Project 15 A.
Though the navy is tight lipped, sources inform that due to gas leakage, possible due to malfunctioning of the firefighting system in the engine room of the destroyer led to this accident. The valve on top of the carbon-dioxide cylinder burst, hitting the officer on his chest, and he collapsed.
INS Kolkata (officially now called Yard 701) is one of the most advanced vessels made in India and is fitted with state of the art weaponry and sensors, including long range missiles. The warship is the most modern destroyer of India, set for commissioning in a few weeks time.
It is the lead ship in the guided class destroyers India is building now. The other two would be INS Kochi and INS Chennai.
The accident comes days after Admiral DK Joshi resigned as Navy chief, owning moral responsibility for a series of accidents including two aboard Navy submarine INS Sindhuratna, that led to the death of 17 officers.
The latest accident would raise serious questions over India’s naval security and its modernisation programme.
Bharatiya Janata Party, the principal opposition to the present Congress party led United Progressive Alliance government has sought the resignation of Defence Minister A.K. Antony under whose watch, 18 naval accidents have happened in the last seven months.
BJP’s national spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told Gulf News over phone, “The death of an experienced naval officer is a huge loss for any force. No where in the world any naval force has witnessed such frequent accidents. Wide spread corruption is the reason for such incidents.”
Sanjay Jha of the Congress party said, “Unless full details are available it would be highly inappropriate to comment. But if BJP chooses to politicize issues of national security, then the country will be a loser.”
By Archisman Dinda Correspondent
Gulf News 2014. All rights reserved.
