On Friday, Navy divers have been successful in locating bodies of four of the 18 missing sailors on board submarine INS Sindhurakshak after 36 hours of mishap. Massive search operations are going on to trace other personnel .There is no hope of survivors.The INS Sindhurakshak sank after a series of massive explosions followed by fire just after midnight on August 14.
The bodies, which have been severely disfigured, have been sent for DNA test for identification. The missing people include 15 sailors and, Lieutenant Commanders Nikhilesh Pal, Alok Kumar and R Venkitaraj. The names of sailors are Sanjeev Kumar ,KC Upadhyay ,Timothy Sinha , Kewal Singh,Sunil Kumar,Dasari Prasad,Liju Lawrence,Rajesh Tootika ,Amit K Singh,Atul Sharma ,Vikas ,Naruttam Deuri ,Malay Haldar ,Vishnu ,Seetaram Badapalli
The Navy has also been trying to pump out water from the vessel but the operation has been hampered by the large scale ingress of sea water into the submarine.
Rescuers have been finding it hard to break into the salvaged submarine weighing 2300-tonne Kilo as the heat of the explosion has melted parts of the internal hull deforming the submarine hatches; thus making it rather difficult to open the chambers.
This submarine was commissioned in 1997 in to Indian Naval force at a cost of about Rs 400 crore with a Rs 450-crore extensive upgrade in Russia .