NEW DELHI, August 19 (RIA Novosti) – Russian experts believe human error - or “mishandling of equipment” - could have caused the deadly explosions that sank a Russian-built Indian navy submarine last week, The Times of India has reported.
The boat, INS Sindhurakshak, a Kilo-class (Project 877 EKM) diesel-electric powered vessel, sank at its moorings in the port of Mumbai on August 14 after a series of blasts devastated the vessel and triggered a fire. Six bodies have been found on board the sunken boat so far while the search continues for another 12 crew members.
A team of Russian experts visiting Mumbai have ruled out “technical error or sabotage” as the cause of the accident, the report said. "The experts raised the possibility of mishandling of equipment as the reason" for the disaster, the newspaper said citing an unnamed source.
The source claimed there was no chance that the accident was caused by a technical fault as the submarine is checked thoroughly - "also through computers" - before it goes to sea. The boat was due to set out on patrol on August 14, the paper said.
While the paper did not say where the Russian experts were from, a team of engineers from the Zvezdochka shipyard, which had refitted the boat, was in Mumbai last week prior to the accident as part of its post-refit handover, the shipyard said.
Those experts have not yet been allowed by the Indians to examine the boat, they said Monday.
“Nothing has changed – they still haven’t let us into the boat,” a source from the Zvezdochka group said.
The Sindhurakshak suffered a fatal fire in 2010 that killed a crewman. An Indian Navy investigation said that incident was caused by a defective battery, the Hindustan Times reported.
The boat was refitted by Zvezdochka after that fire, and only returned to service in January.
The boat had sailed 15,000 miles after the refit and the Indians “had not expressed any complaints about the submarine’s condition” afterward, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said last week.
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