The destruction of the INS Sindhurakshak two days ago has led naval experts to raise certain pertinent questions. Email discussions among former naval officers, which this newspaper has access to, are reflective of these apprehensions.
“One thing that is bothering us is the presence of 18 crew members onboard the submarine at a time. This suggests that some activity was happening on the submarine. Otherwise, so many men do not stay onboard the submarine,” one officer wrote.
This newspaper had reported on August 15 that the ammunition was being taken from the ammunition depot to the submarine when the explosion took place.
The officer agreed that it was a possibility and said, “There are theories cropping up that some warhead was being loaded and there was some mishandling. If the loading of ammunition was happening, then the entire crew should have been onboard and not just 18. And there should not have been another submarine berthed next to this one.”
Retired commander R.W. Pathak, who has been fighting for good governance in the system through Right to Information, said that the board of inquiry must bring out the truth and nothing but the truth and fix responsibility based on systemic failure that led to this incident. “Hydrogen concentration rise appears to have been a problem in the past also as gleaned from reports. So what lessons were learnt and what was done?” asked Mr Pathak.
Interestingly, one of the emails sent by another retired officer to his former colleague states, “Sindhurakshak was only a conventional submarine. Imagine if it was a nuke! The ‘chalta hai’ and ‘Bhagwan bharose’ culture has to go. This can only trickle from the top to the bottom. And yes, heads have to roll please. (sic)”