Regd. No. MH/MR/South-160/2012-14 RNI Regn. No. 43675/1985 MUMBAI THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013 24 PAGES `3 Website: www.afternoondc.in
ILL-FATED INS SINDHURAKSHAK
Aft er oo DESPATCH & COURIER
Gold: `29,675 Silver: `47,010 US Dollar: `61.43 Temperature: 290C/250C Humidity: 83%
Woman’s World Pg 9-16
A graphic model of a Kilo Class submarine
FIRE CAUSED BY SHORT CIRCUIT SPREADS TO TORPEDO SECTION, LEADING TO EXPLOSIONS ON BOARD SUBMARINE By Vishnudas Sheshrao
A
s many as 18 crew members, including three young officers and 15 sailors, who were trapped since Tuesday midnight inside the INS Sindhurakshak, a Russian made Kilo class submarine, are feared dead after the vessel suffered near simultaneous and major blasts, speculated to have been caused by a fire that went out of control. Around 11.55 pm of Tuesday night, a loud blast was heard in some parts of south Mum-
bai. This was followed after few minutes by three more blasts, and flames lit up the night sky across the harbour. The cause of fire is yet to be ascertained, but experts think that it could have been a small fire caused by a short circuit, and soon became a major one which reached to torpedoes kept in the front section, causing major blasts. Incidentally, the automatic and manual monitoring systems on board the submarine had grossly failed to detect the fire and extinguish it.
The Defence Ministry has appointed a Board of Inquiry (BoI) headed by Commodore (Submarine). A detailed report will be submitted in four weeks time. Defence Minister A.K. Antony, who left the ongoing parliament session in Delhi and come to visit the accident site at Western Naval Command (WNC), expressed grief and offered his condolences. For more than 20 hours till Wednesday evening, no communication could be established with the trapped crew members, despite several means of communication
installed on board the submarine. Naval officials said they were hoping for the best but were prepared for the worst. The ill fated vessel had a history of a fire accident earlier in 2010, when one sailor had died and two others were badly injured. Then Indian Navy sent the submarine to Russia for refurbishment and it was received back here only in August 2012. Admiral Devendra Kumar Joshi, who had Continued on pg 2 «
Raids put a halt to illegal sand mining By Khushboo Panjabi
T
he Navi Mumbai Police, on Tuesday morning, arrested three truck drivers on charges of illegal sand mining near Ganeshpuri. The illegal mining, which was rampant in Navi Mumbai, has finally been put on hold with Pawan Chandak,
The accused inthe custody of the police. (Right) Our report on August 7.
ADC IMPACT
Tehshildar, Panvel, undertaking an operation to catch the sand mafia. “Raids were being carried out for a week in the area where sand mining was being done illegally. We seized 150-200 trucks loaded with sand and work is no more being carried out there now,” informed Chandak. The three truck drivers, Gajanand Namdev Mankari, Gajanand Pandari Godhghase and Santosh Shivaji Pawar, have been arrested by the NRI
police station, Seawoods, under IPC 379 and strict action will be taken against them. Chandak added, “For any mining work to be carried out, one should possess legal documents and special permission should be taken from the Collector. Illegal mining should be stopped and strict action will be taken against the people behind this.” ADC had carried a story on August 7 regarding illegal sand mining in Navi Mumbai. The Coastal Police had seized suction machines and 35 boats from Kharghar and Ganeshpuri earlier in raids to check illegal sand dredging across the coastline and had made some arrests, but the sand stealing had continued to persist. Chandak had then said, “The investigation process would start within a few days.”