Another Indian Navy ship mishap, a commander dies

Mumbai: An Indian Navy officer has been killed in a gas leak on a ship under construction at the Mazagaon dock in Mumbai.

The officer, of Commander rank, died today after a malfunction in the ship’s carbon dioxide unit caused gas to leak during machinery trials. The yet to be commissioned ship is one of three Kolkata class destroyers being built under the Navy’s Project 15 A.

A Navy press release said the officer and some other personnel were affected and had been hospitalised. It was later confirmed that the officer had died.

The warship is one of the most advanced vessels made in India and is fitted with state of the art weaponry and sensors.

Only last week, two officers were killed in a fire aboard a Navy submarine INS Sindhuratna, which had been refitted and was being sea-tested.

Navy chief Admiral DK Joshi had resigned owning moral responsibility for that and several other accidents in the last few months, including the blast that sank another submarine INS Sindhurakshak in August last year, killing all 18 sailors and officers on board.