After the Indian Navy warship INS Vindhyagiri sank inside the naval dockyard here early Monday morning, the dockyard fire tenders tried to douse the fire initially. Later outside help was sought from the Coast Guard, Mumbai Port Trust and the fire brigade.
In order to extinguish the fire, water was used by the Naval team instead of foam extinguishers; this water filled several compartments of the warship, and as a result, the ship listed (tilted). As soon as it started listing, seawater started filling up the ship from the hole that had been caused due to the collision.
In all, eight fire tenders of the fire brigade struggled to control the fire in a battle that raged for around 10 hours — from 3.30 am to 1.30 pm. Even at around 4 pm, smoke was seen bellowing from the ill-fated ship.
“A complaint has been registered against the captain of the MV Nordlake for rashly and negligently sailing the ship. However, no complaint has been filed by the captain of the MV Nordlake against any Navy officer,” said deputy commissioner of police, port zone.
The JNPT pilot, who was guiding the MV Nordlake at the time of the collision, has not been booked for the incident. However, he will be called in for recording his statement. The police has also asked for Simplified Voyage Data Recorder (S-VDR) video as well as the communication log of the MV Nordlake.