Mumbai: An Indian Navy warship undergoing maintenance at the Mumbai naval dockyard caught fire on Monday, with one junior sailor missing and rescue teams searching for him. All other personnel have been accounted for.
The fire caused severe damage to the guided missile frigate INS Brahmaputra, leaving it heavily tilted to one side.
“The frigate INS Brahmaputra experienced severe listing to one side due to the fire. Despite efforts, the ship could not be stabilised and is now resting on one side. All personnel are accounted for except one junior sailor, for whom the search continues,” stated the Indian Navy.
The ship’s crew, assisted by dockyard firefighters and other ships in the harbour, managed to control the fire by Tuesday morning, but the junior sailor remains unaccounted for.
The fire began on Sunday evening while the vessel was undergoing refit at the naval dockyard.
Indian Navy Chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi will visit Mumbai today to review the situation. He has also briefed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh about the incident and the resulting damage.
The Navy has initiated a probe into the fire and is conducting sanitisation checks to assess residual fire risks.
INS Brahmaputra, commissioned in 2000, is a 125-meter-long frigate equipped with a variety of guns, missiles, and torpedo launchers. It has a crew of 40 officers and 360 sailors and can operate Seaking and Chetak helicopters.
