Visakhapatnam, Nov 7: It's been nearly 12 hours since a Torpedo Recovery Vessel of the Navy sank off the coast of Visakhapatnam, but there has been no trace of the four missing personnel who were on board. One person was killed and 23 others were rescued when the vessel started sinking last evening.
The vessel, which has reportedly sunk to a depth of around 370 metres, was on a routine mission to recover practice torpedoes fired by fleet ships during a routine exercise. Sources say a crack may have developed in the sea chest, a recess in the hull that is designed for water intake, which resulted sea water gushing in uncontrollably.
Ships with side scanning and 'bottom profiling' abilities, aircraft with night vision facilities and four helicopters are searching for survivors.
The Torpedo Recovery Vessel or TRV is an auxiliary vessel which is used to recover practice torpedoes fired by fleet ships and submarines. The ship is 23 meters long and 6.5 meters at the beam. This particular ship was built by Goa Shipyard Limited in 1983, the statement by the Navy said.
The accident is one of the many that the Navy has witnessed over the last year.
Navy chief Admiral R K Dhowan is cutting short his visit to Seychelles and is rushing back. He took over as the Chief of the Naval Staff on April 17 this year, after his predecessor DK Joshi quit following a series of accidents.
Admiral Joshi's resignation came immediately after a fire on the INS Sindhuratna, which left two sailors dead.
On October 31, INS Kora suffered minor damage after it was scraped by a merchant vessel near Visakhapatnam.
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