New Delhi: An Indian Navy submarine and a fishing vessel collided with each other about 70 nautical miles northwest of Goa, and a rescue operation has been launched to find two missing fishermen.
Defence sources told ThePrint the vessels crashed into each other around 9.30 pm Thursday evening when the submarine was making a transit between two ports.
In a late night statement, the Navy said the Indian fishing vessel Marthoma with 13 people onboard collided with the Indian Naval unit about 70 nm northwest of Goa.
It added that search and rescue efforts were immediately launched by the Navy with six ships and aircraft. Eleven of the men were rescued.
The search operation continues for the other two, and is being coordinated with the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Mumbai. Additional assets have been diverted to the area to boost efforts.
Sources said full details of the accident were yet to emerge, but it looks there were no major damages to the vessel as it continued to sail. They said the Naval headquarters were waiting for the submarine to reach its destination to assess damage and the reasons behind the collision.
(Published by Tikli Basu)
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Navy personnel, especially the submarine crew, are a joke!
They keep submarine hatches open leading to serious accidents, collide with fishing vessels and God knows what. They come across as a bunch of fresh college graduates with no idea of submarine operations.
Professionalism is non-existent in the Indian Navy. They never learn from their mistakes and keep on repeating them. And in doing so, they bring ignominy on the nation. Their ineptitude makes us a laughing stock amongst other world powers.