CABLES CAUSED SUBMARINE FIRE

Last week’s disaster on INS Sindhuratna — that killed two naval officers — was due to a fire in the submarine’s cables, according to preliminary findings by The Board of Inquiry. No evidence of human error has been found so far.

NEW DELHI: Last week’s disaster on INS Sindhuratna — that killed two naval officers — was due to a fire in the submarine’s cables, according to preliminary findings by The Board of Inquiry.

A top naval officer told HT that the fire started in the cables connecting the batteries to the electrical systems of the submarine. The cables are coated and insulated with plastic and material failure seems to have caused a short-circuit leading to the fire.

The initial inquiry has so far not found any evidence of human error. It also ruled out failure in the batteries as the cause of the fire. “The batteries had completed only 60 cycles out of the 200 cycles and were relatively brand new,” a senior naval official familiar with the inquiry told HT.

As per the findings, when the fire alarm went off, the two officers — Lt Commander Kapish Muwal and Lt Manoranjan Kumar — rushed to the spot to rescue sailors but collapsed after inhaling dense black smoke.

The submarine’s Captain, Commander Sandeep Sinha, tried to rescue the two officers, but failed due to the smoke, the

INITIAL INQUIRY HAS SO FAR NOT FOUND ANY EVIDENCE OF HUMAN ERROR. IT ALSO RULED OUT BATTERY FAILURE AS THE CAUSE OF FIRE

officer said. Sinha collapsed shortly after the submarine surfaced and was released from the ICU on Monday.

In fact, the submarine’s Freon fire-fighting system might have caused more confusion.

“The system tends to suck out all the oxygen from a compartment to kill the fire. So the two officers must have tried to push out the other sailors from the third compartment when the fire occurred and collapsed,” said Commodore AJ Singh (retired), who was the executive officer of INS Sindhuratna in the early 1990s.

The battery compartment was initially suspected as the reason for the fire. “Many times the hydrogen concentration in the battery pit goes up, and that helps spread the fire,” Singh added. Around seven sailors were seriously injured in the accident, which led to the resignation of Chief of naval staff Admiral DK Joshi.