Hyderabad, May 20: The board of inquiry constituted to go into the circumstances that led to the collapse of a gate in the dry dock of the Naval Dockyard at Visakhapatnam, which killed four naval personnel including commander Ashwani Kumar, is likely to probe how they had died and if any one was to blame for the disaster.
The board is likely to finish its inquiry in two months. “The board has experts as its members who will inquire how the disaster had occurred and if the naval personnel died because they fell to the ground from a height of 30 ft or because they drowned,” a naval officer told ENS over phone from Visakhapatnam.
Besides Ashwani Kumar, three others _ Lt Commander Ranbir Ranjan, master chief shipwright Madhu Babu and chief shipwright E Rajesh _ died in the mishap which occurred at 9.30 am on Wednesdaywhen they were on a routine inspection of the gates that are used to control the flow of sea water into the dry dock.
According to naval sources, if any ship requires repair of the portion that is below water, she is first allowed into the dry dockyard and the gates are shut. Then the entire water in the dry dockyard is pumped out to facilitate repair. After repairs, the gates are lifted to let water in to make the ship buoyant and then it is allowed to be tugged away into the sea.
The mishap occurred when naval staff were checking the gates. “It was a routine operation.
Unfortunately, one of the gates of the width of 6 ft wide and 30 ft deep collapsed. We do not know how the four naval personnel died.
They might have fallen to the hard surface 30 ft below and died or they may have been drowned since, after the collapse of the gate, the dock yard was flooded with sea water,” the officer said.
The board of inquiry will also look into whether anyone could be made responsible for the mishap.
“This aspect too will be covered in the inquiry and if there is any evidence that points to negligence of any officer that could have led to the collapse of the gate, it would also be mentioned in the report.”
He denied that naval authorities did not allow policemen to enter the area. “We have allowed the officer of the police department entrusted with investigation responsibility,” the naval officer said.
–Agencies