Navy orders inquiry into INS Betwa incident

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 6

The Indian Navy has ordered an inquiry into Monday's incident in which a warship tipped over on a dry- dock in Mumbai, killing two sailors.  

"Rear Admiral Deepak Bali, Flag-Officer Offshore Defence Advisory Group, to head Board of Inquiry in (yesterday's) INS Betwa incident," a Navy spokesperson said this evening.

"Navy chief Admiral Sunil Lanba visited the Naval Dockyard here this morning and was briefed about the incident and situation on ground," the spokesperson said.

It has also decided to make the warship, INS Betwa, battle-worthy within its ongoing re-fit cycle that ends April 2018.

The ship had tipped over in the dry-dock at Mumbai while being undocked on Monday.

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It was undergoing a two year re-fit cycle that started in April 2016.

Navy spokesperson Capt DK Sharma said professional salvagers from across the world have been called in to give an assessment on how to lift the ship from its 90 degree position and salvage it.  "We will salvage it. This is the decision made on Tuesday,” Capt Sharma said in New Delhi.

The ship costing Rs 600 crore was commissioned in 2004. Since it's indigenously made the re-fit and any new material can be sourced from India.

The Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sunil Lanba met the families of the two sailors who were killed when the ship tipped over. (With agency inputs)