New Delhi, February 27: The fire mishap on INS Sindhurakshak in Visakhapatnam that left a sailor dead and two others injured was caused by an explosion in its battery compartment, Navy officials said here on Saturday.
Sindhurakshak, a Russian-origin Kilo class submarine, was in the Visakhapatnam harbour for a routine maintenance when the mishap occurred last evening.
“It was due to a defective battery and Leading Electrical Technician Kump Dand was killed,” the official said.
India had bought the 2300-tonne submarine from Russia as part of an early 1980s deal and commissioned it in 1997. It is the ninth of the 10 Sindhugosh class diesel-electric powered vessel that the Navy has in its 16-vessel submarine fleet.
Sindhurakshak is scheduled for a major mid-life refit later this year as part of a programme for this class of vessels which began in 1997 with Sindhuvir.
In January 2008, another vessel from this class, INS Sindhugosh, collided with a merchant vessel off Mumbai while participating in a naval exercise.
The boat collided with the cargo ship as it was surfacing in a silent mode with its radio and radar switched off.
The damage caused to the submarine during the mishap resulted in it being off service for about a month.
-PTI