2 naval boats catch fire, sink

An incident of fire was reported within Naval Dockyard in Mumbai in the wee hours of Tuesday. The fire broke out in one of the security boats that was deployed for carrying out patrolling duties off the Mumbai shoreline. According to defence sources, the boats, T13 and T14 of the Tango series, sank after being ravaged by the fire. Navy officials, meanwhile, confirmed the incident and said that no injuries had been reported in it.

According to a Navy official, immediate support vessels (ISVs) — which are small in size and used for patrolling in and outside the harbour — were docked at the naval harbour in south Mumbai when the fire suddenly broke out. The naval staff present there took prompt fire-fighting action to prevent the flames from spreading to the other boats in the vicinity. Despite their efforts, the two boats, T13 and T14, suffered irreparable damages and were submerged in the shallow waters of the sea. These two ISVs were of the 81 ISV squadron and were made from fibre reinforced plastic, and were commissioned into the Western Naval Command in Mumbai on January 30, 2014, said sources.

Following the fire, the naval headquarters ordered a board of inquiry to investigate the incident.

After the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, indigenous support vessels started getting commissioned into the Navy in order to protect the oilrigs off the city's coastline. The boats are armed with heavy and light machine guns, and also carry modern navigational and communication sensors. The T13 and T14 vessels also belonged to this ISV category and were parked in one line in the dock. According to sources, one of these boats caught fire late on Monday night, following which the flames spread to the other boat as well.

“At first, officials decided to move these boats away from the vicinity so as to prevent other vessels from catching fire and deployed a tug boat for the same,” said a source. But, he added, since these boats were made of inflammable plastic, they were destroyed in hardly any time and sank in the sea around 7 am on Tuesday.