Sailors of INS Sindhurakshak broke safety rules: Russia
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New Delhi: Violation of safety regulations could be the most likely cause of the explosions on submarine Sindhurakshak because of which it sank, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has said.
Rogozin, who was quoted by Russia’s official news agency Itar Tass, has said that India had raised no questions over the technical aspects of the submarine built and recently overhauled by Russia.
Quoting experts, he told that the violation of safety regulations was the most probable cause of the accident. He, however, qualified his comments, saying that assessment of what really happened are still being made to determine the exact reason behind the tragedy in which 18 Navy officials are feared dead. “But things are still to be assessed in full... At the moment we are not blaming the equipment,” Rogozin said.
“The very first information that I received at night, several hours after that accident was that the blast had occurred in the section where storage batteries were being charged. This is the most dangerous work, which is connected with safety measures rather than with the producers of this equipment,” he said.
He said the submarine itself, which had covered 15,000 nautical miles, did not attract criticism as to its technical characteristics. “It (the submarine) has never raised any questions on the part of our Indian colleagues,” he added.
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Meanwhile, divers from the Navy managed to open a second access to the sunken vessel on Friday during an overnight ‘challenging but critical’ operation.
“The divers have gained a second access to the submarine late last night when they successfully prised open the rear escape hatch which was submerged below and jammed due to high temperature,” a release from the Navy said, terming the operation as “challenging but critical.”
Also, opening of the jammed forward escape hatch is being attempted for an entry to the front portion of the submarine, the release said.
The rescue team had extricated badly charred bodies of five of the 18 personnel on Friday.
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