INS Betwa Tipped While Undocking, Claims 2 Lives

In an unexpected incident, INS Betwa accidentally slipped over while undocking at naval dockyard, Mumbai, claiming 2 lives and injuring 14 crew members. The ship was at dry dock while the entire incident happened. The sources alleged the failure of dock-block mechanism as the cause of the accident. The failure of this mechanism led to the hitting of the mast of the ship to the ground from the left side that led to the accident.

The ship was undergoing repairing at the dock and all this happened during the undocking of the ship. The two sailors who lost their lives were NK Rai and Asutosh Pandey. It is not the first time that INS Betwa faced such incident. In 2014, INS Betwa hit an unidentified object in the sea, while coming to the Mumbai dock, which led to the technical problems in its sonar systems.

About The Ship

It is a Brahmaputra class guided missile frigate, built by GRSE (Garden Reach Ship Builders) and has joined the service in 2004. The ship is fitted with 2 Bhopal turbines and 30,000 HP engine and can attain a speed of 30 knots (56 Kmph). It is also efficient to carry 2 helicopters (2 Sea King Helicopters or 1 Sea King and 1 HAL Chetak). The ship has also got some efficient arms in it like Barak missile, anti- ship torpedoes, Merela super rapid guns etc.

ins_betwa — INS Betwa is named after the Betwa River

Other Incidents in Indian Navy in Recent Years.

In 2014, three major accidents happened in Indian Navy. A small fire broke out in INS Ganga at Mumbai dock which injured 3 people, fire in INS Sindhuratna claimed lives of 2 sailors and 1 officer died in INS Kolkata after inhaling carbon dioxide.
In 2013, blast in the torpedo compartment of INS Sindhurakshak led to the loss of 18 members of the submarine. INS Tarkash also went through an accident while docking.

Conclusion – INS Betwa has been one of the best warheads in the Indian Navy. The incident will be interrogated further and some sources are also alleging that the ship will not be able to sail again due to the accident. Indian navy is inducting new warheads were frequently, but the maintenance and life extension of the old warheads is also a matter of concern. The loss of precious lives of soldiers in such accidents is also a point of concern. The accident will be a lesson for other ships and naval soldiers to stay careful.