Zee Media Bureau
Mumbai: After 36 hours of continuous diving effort by Navy divers, disfigured bodies of four personnel were extricated from INS Sindhurakshak, with slim hope of finding any survivors.
18 Navy personnel – including three officers – had gone down with the submarine after it exploded and burst into flames early Wednesday.
DNA sampling would be carried out for identification a Navy press release said. The bodies are being preserved at the naval hospital INS Ashwini.
"The state of the bodies and condition within the submarine leads to firm conclusion that finding any surviving personnel within the submarine is unlikely," the release said.
Navy divers had a tough time entering the ill-fated submarine. “The distorted and twisted metal within very restricted space due to extensive internal damage caused by the explosion further worsened conditions for the divers which resulted in a very slow and laboured progress, it said.
"Access to the inner compartments of the submarine was almost impossible due to jammed doors, distorted ladders, oily and muddy water inside the submerged submarine resulting in total darkness and nil visibility even with high powered under water lamps," the release said.
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
