INS Vindhyagiri sinks after collision

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI - The Indian naval ship, INS Vindhyagiri, that caught fire after collision with a foreign merchant vessel at the Mumbai harbour sunk on Monday.

INS Vindhyagiri was carrying family members of Navy personnel on board. There have been no injuries as all the people were evacuated from the ship.

The ship, however, suffered major damage to its engine. The merchant vessel, however, did not suffer any significant damage and may be held accountable.

Fire tenders couldn’t douse the fire in INS Vindhyagiri due to presence of oil near the engine, resulting in sinking of the ship.

According to the officials, INS Vindhyagiri was returning to the dockyard while merchant vessel Nord Lake was leaving Mumbai harbour when the two collided in the harbour.

Earlier in the day, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Nirmal Verma commented on the use of the latest technology for preventing ship collisions at busy harbours.

“So I would say the answer lies in two pronged effort: one is that the sunken wreck(s) should be removed. The other is, why have the ships sunk there? Because it is also seen that some of the ships, perhaps were quite old and many of the ports in the world, there they may not have been allowed entry, also,” he said.

“So there has to be greater regulations as far as the age of ships that are permitted inside, and I would say that more caution has to be exercised while ships go in and out of harbour,” he added.is views come in the backdrop of a collision between INS Vindhyagiri and a merchant ship, M. N. Nordlake.

INS Vindhyagiri (F42) was a Nilgiri class frigate of the Indian Navy. It was commissioned into the Navy on July 8, 1981. (ANI)