Zee Media Bureau
Mumbai: As the "severely disfigured" bodies of six sailors were recovered on Friday from INS Sindhurakshak, which sank here Wednesday with 18 men, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin assured of full assistance to help Indian Navy in its investigation into the explosion on the submarine.
He told Russian news agency Ria Novosti that Russian specialists do not see any technical failure as the likely cause behind the incident.
Rogozin, who looks after the defence industry, said he had instructed United Shipbuilding Corporation, a state-owned ship building company, to send more specialists to Indian "in agreement with the Indian side to provide all assistance necessary to our Indian friends".
"I have instructed the United Shipbuilding Corporation to send more specialists in agreement with the Indian side, to take part in the investigation of the tragedy and to provide all assistance necessary to our Indian friends," said Rogozin.
The six bodies were found by naval divers from the 2,300 tonne INS Sindhurakshak, which was recently refurbished in Russia and which suffered explosions and fire as it went down after Tuesday midnight.
The bodies, according to spokesman Narendra Vispute, are so badly charred that on-the-spot identification was not possible.
"The damage and destruction within the submarine around the control room area indicates that the feasibility of locating bodies of personnel in the forward part of the submarine is also very remote as the explosion and very high temperatures, which melted steel within, would have incinerated the bodies too," a statement issued by Navy said.
The bodies have been shifted to naval hospital INS Ashwini for DNA profiling to facilitate identification.
These five were among the 15 sailors and three officers who got trapped in the submarine berthed at the Mumbai dock once disaster struck. Eight of the sailors were married.
The diesel-electric submarine was commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1997 at a cost of around Rs 400 crore and had gone through a Rs 450-crore extensive upgrade in Russia.
The 2300-tonne Kilo class submarine, powered by a combination of diesel generators and electric batteries, had potent weapons package including the anti-ship `Club` missiles.
The list of missing INS Sindhurakshak crew:
Officers – Rank
Nikhilesh Pal - Lieutenant Commander
Alok Kumar - Lieutenant Commander
R Venkitaraj - Lieutenant commander
Sailors – Rank
Sanjeev Kumar - PO UW I
KC Upadhyay - PO UW I
Timothy Sinha - PO UW I
Kewal Singh - LS UC I
Sunil Kumar - SEA I UW III
Dasari Prasad - MECH(R) 2
Liju Lawrence – LEMP
Rajesh Tootika – LME
Amit K Singh - STD I
Atul Sharma - SEA I
Vikas E - SEA I
Naruttam Deuri - ME I
Malay Haldar - EMR II
Vishnu V - RO II
Seetaram Badapalli - LS RP I
With agencies inputs
