Mumbai: The Navy has set up a probe panel to investigate a mishap aboard its submarine Sindhuratna that killed two crew members. A statement issued by the Navy said that a "high-level inquiry, headed by an officer of Rear Admiral rank", has been set up to investigate all the recent submarine mishaps.
"The aim is to ventilate the submarine... establish the cause of all incidents and to recommend steps for continuing safe operations of submarines," the statement said.
INS Sindhuratna is a Kilo-class submarine - a Russian-built diesel-electric vessel. The Navy said that its crew members saw smoke emanating from one of its chambers during a routine exercise and had to be airlifted after they inhaled some of it.
This is the third major submarine incident in the past six months. INS Sindhurakshak was engulfed in a major fire following explosions in August 2013. It killed all 18 personnel on board and sank the warship. The Navy is under tremendous pressure to explain the spate of incidents involving these submarines.
On Wednesday, Navy Chief Admiral DK Joshi resigned, citing moral responsibility for all the accidents. Sources say more officers in the Western Command are likely to follow suit.
The principal opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has slammed the Centre for not taking enough steps to upgrade the ageing Naval fleet.
"We have seen the Navy being neglected. Navy has never got the required budget. The Russian fleet is very old. It should have been out long time back," BJP leader Prakash Javadekar said.
The Defence Minister is likely to meet Western Command Chief Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha on Thursday afternoon. Vice Admiral Shekhar Sinha is the senior most Naval officer after the resignation of Admiral Joshi. However, considering the spate of incidents that happened under Vice Admiral Sinha's watch, sources say the officiating chief Vice Admiral Robin Dhowan is likely to be named for the top job.
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