ELEVEN mishaps in last SIX months, several dead: What's wrong with Indian Navy?

New Delhi: There have been 10 reported incidents involving naval assets in the past seven months involving the INS Sindhuratna mishap early on Wednesday in which two officers lost their lives and seven sailors were affected severely due to smoke inhalation. The incident was the 10th in the series of mishaps involving frontline warships. Have a look at the recent naval mishaps- 1. May 7, 2014: A gas leakage in the engine room of under construction naval destroyer, Kolkata killed one commander rank officer and left at least two others injured. The explosion took place as the destroyer's firefighting system was being tested. 2. February 26, 2014: Smoke was detected on Indian Navy submarine INS Sindhuratna off Mumbai coast, and onboard 4-5 sailors were airlifted to a Mumbai hospital after they fell unconscious from suffocation. The senior-most submarine officer of the Western Naval Command was on board. 2 people were killed while 7 were injured. The cause of the fire remains unknown. As per reports, smoke had engulfed compartment No. 3 in the sailors’ accommodation area when the submarine was underwater during a training mission, leading to deaths and injuries. 3. On January 4, 2014, a Brahmaputra-class guided missile frigate - INS Betwa - damaged after probably hitting some underwater object. A crack was reported in its sonar dome - the bottom most part of the ship, leading to faulty readings and ingress of saltwater into sensitive equipment. 4. A kilo-class submarine, INS Sindhughosh, operating out of Mumbai, had a near-miss when the tied suddenly receded and the ship ran aground on January 17, 2014. However, the ship was secured with the help of tugs and ropes and no damage was reported. 5. On January 20, 2014, INS Vipul, a missile boat from the Killer Missile Squardon, which had only returned from a normal refit (NR) inside the Mumbai Naval Dockyard, was detected with a hole in its pillar compartment while it was on an operational deployment off Mumbai. 6. On January 30, 2014, INS Airavat, an amphibious warfare vessel, ran aground while returning to the harbour in Vishakhapatnam. Following the incident, the commanding officer was stripped of his command duties. 7. INS Tarkash - a Talwar-class frigate which has conducted several overseas missions - hit the jetty off Vishakapatnam shore while berthing at the Mumbai naval base in January 2014. Its hull was badly damaged. 8. The biggest naval mishap occured on August 14, 2013 when the INS Sindhurakshak sank inside the Mumbai harbour killing all 18 personnel on board. 9. India's leading minesweeper INS Konkan, which was undergoing repairs in Vizag, also caught fire on December 4, 2013 and suffered major damage to its interiors. The Pondicherry-class minesweeper was getting a refit at a dry dock when the incident occurred. 10. Frontline frigate INS Talwar collided with a fishing trawler off the Maharashtra coast on December 23, 2013. Luckily, the frigate did not suffer any significant damage. 11. In September, 2013, a fire incident was reported on country’s only aircraft carrier INS Viraat off the coast of Mumbai. The incident took place on board the INS Viraat near the officers’ mess section of the warship. The naval headquarters is concerned over the spate of mishaps in the Western Command and had even summoned Western Naval Commander Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha on the issue. The Western Command headquarters was damaged when Naval Armament Depot personnel misfired a heavy-caliber gun at it while checking it.