Mumbai/Delhi: A day after the Navy Day celebrations, India’s prized warship INS Betwa tipped over and crashed to its side while undergoing refit at the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai around 1.50 pm on Monday.
Two persons were confirmed dead and around 15 personnel have sustained injures in the incident. The injured naval personnel were rushed to the naval hospital INHS Asvini for treatment.
Indian Navy’s spokesperson, Captain D.K. Sharma confirmed that the mishap occurred around 1.50 pm. “Two sailors have succumbed to their injuries after the mishap. INS Betwa, a frigate of the Indian Navy, was in the process of undocking in the Naval Dockyard when she slipped from her dock blocks and tilted,” Captain Sharma said.
The Navy described the accident as “unprecedented and sad”. At the time of going to press, the 3,850-tonne ship was lying on its side at the naval dock. Sources from the Navy said that the mast of the 126-metre long ship touched the ground.
The undocking operation is a complex and precision mode operation meant to dock the ship in its designated slot in the dockyard. “There would be people working on upper decks for undocking. Because water would be six to seven metres deep there could be cases of drowning,” the source added.
Another source from the navy, who was present at the dockyard when the INS Betwa flipped over, said that at the time of refitting, a frigate always stands on an artificial support.
Mishap may cost the ship
India’s prized warship INS Betwa tipped over and crashed to its side while undergoing refit at the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai in Monday around 1.50 pm.
“The support gave away and the ship turned to 90 degree. Refitting always takes place on a dry ground, so for refitting we establish a platform on the ground to give support to the ship.
As ships are triangular in shape we place supports below her nose. While sending her back into the sea, we remove this support and then ship starts sailing. In this incident, the support lost its balance,” the source explained.
While a court of inquiry has been ordered, the sources rated the accident as a severe one with the potential to “cost the ship” even as damage was being assessed. Commissioned into the Navy on July 7, 2004, the INS Betwa is the first Indian warship to successfully integrate Indian-made systems with foreign ones.
Besides two Sea King helicopters, the frigate is armed with Israeli Barak and Russian Klub missiles besides a 76mm gun and anti-submarine torpedos among other weapons systems.
As the ship was undergoing refit, neither the choppers nor the weapons systems were onboard. “Water is filled in the dry dock to float the ship. The level of water inside and outside the dock must be the same. If the heeling over has ruptured the hull, which is underwater, water ingress would have been there. One has to wait for details”, Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha (retired) told this newspaper.
This is the second time the INS Betwa has been involved in a mishap. In January 2014, the ship ran aground after hitting an unidentified object near the Mumbai naval base. The sonar system broke leading to faulty readings. An investigation has been launched.
