Updated at 10.50 pm
Pushpa Iyengar/Josy Joseph.
PANAJI/NEW DELHI: Over 70 navy men had a miraculous escape on Friday night after their missile boat collided with a merchant vessel off Goa coast and sank within a few hours. The missile corvette sank a few hours after the Indian Navy completed its annual exercise Tropex 2006, which reviewed its preparedness and alertness.
This is the fourth major accident involving Indian naval ships in a little over two years. The accidents raise serious questions regarding the expertise and care being put in by the Commanding Officers.
The Navy removed the Commanding Officers of at least two of the ships involved in recent accidents.
Indian Naval Ship Prahar was returning form Goa to Mumbai after the completion of Tropex 2006 when it collided with Merchant Vessel Rajiv Gandhi at 9.45 pm in the evening. Within three hours, the ship sank some 35 kilometres off Goa coast.
Described in one account as the fastest missile boat in the world, INS Prahar played a major role in capturing the Japanese built MV-Alondra Rainbow when it was taken over by 15 Indonesian pirates near Kaula Tanjung on October 22, 1999.
A navy spokesman said numerous ships including six of the Navy, two of Coast Guard and passing merchant vessels and a Dornier aircraft and two helicopters of the Navy were deployed for search and rescue mission. The merchant vessel belonging to the Shipping Corporation of India has been anchored off Goa coast for further investigation. The spokesman said a board of inquiry will investigate into the incident.
The navy was tightlipped about the "unfortunate" incident. Sources told DNA that as the collision took place at night, The ship would have been guided by the radar. "It is possible that the radar readings were interpreted wrongly," the source said.
