The Navy has ruled out sabotage as a possible reason behind the sinking of a torpedo recovery vessel Thursday night, with officials saying the accident appears to have been caused by flooding of sea water inside the engine room triggered by a faulty seal. A Navy official said the vessel, with a crew capacity of 13, had 29 people onboard at the time but stressed that “overcrowding” was not a factor that contributed to the accident, which led to one death and four personnel still missing. A Navy spokesperson said that an inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the reason behind the sinking of the vessel 60km off the Vishakhapatnam coast at 8pm Thursday although “prima facie” it appeared to be a case “ingress of sea water in engine room”. The spokesperson added that nine ships and four aircraft are part of the search and rescue operations for the four missing personnel - the death of James Jacob was confirmed last night. Navy chief Admiral Dhowan is scheduled to visit Vishakhapatnam Sunday after cutting short his visit to the Seychelles. “As per initial reports, the probable reason for the sinking of the vessel seems to be ingress of sea water in the engine room and aft steering compartment of the vessel. A Board of Inquiry headed by a captain has been constituted to investigate into the circumstances leading to the mishap,” said Capt D K Sharma, the spokesperson. The sinking comes a day after the Navy moved out two of its vessels — INS Khukri and INS Sumitra - from the Kolkata port following a security alert about a possible terror attack. The 23-metre long T-72 — one of the three Astravahini class acquired in 1983 - was on its way back from collecting practice torpedoes when the flooding was reported at about 6.30pm. Within 90 minutes, the ship had sunk along with all life-rafts onboard. Twenty-four of the 29 personnel onboard - personnel from the Naval Science and Technology Laboratory (NSTL) Vishakhapatnam and Navy’s Armament Inspectorate — managed to escape with the help of life-jackets. “Prima facie, it is suspected that one of the seals in the engine room may have failed resulting in the inflow of water that sank the vessel. The causes will be ascertained by the inquiry and from the accounts of personnel who have been rescued,” said an official. Constructed by Goa shipyards Limited, officials said the vessel has undergone 27 refits with the last major one conducted between May 16, 2012 and January 15, 2013. With one of the three ships of this kind decommissioned in 2004, the sinking of T-72 leaves the Navy with just one vessel in this category. Officials said that the search party for those missing included one of the Navy’s recent acquisitions, the P-8i Poseidon maritime reconnaissance aircraft, apart from Dorniers, Sea King 42C helicopters with night vision capabilities and Chetak helicopters.
