Indian Navy's run-in with accidents continued on Friday with a “minor” fire incident in the boiler room of naval frigate INS Ganga injuring four persons, including two naval personnel.

As the ship was undergoing repair and maintenance in the dry dock, there was a loud noise from its boiler room, followed by fire. The welding gun took time to ignite, but when lit, it spewed thick flames.

“It happened possibly due to gas accumulation from the welding machine inside the room,” said a Navy source. Two sailors and two civilian workers were taken to the naval hospital for superficial burns. They were discharged after treatment. “There was no damage to boiler room or any other equipment on-board,” sources said.

A naval spokesperson later said there was no fire aboard or inside the boiler room, and nor was there any damage to any equipment in the ship. “The two sailors and two civilian dockyard workers were discharged immediately after a precautionary check-up. The situation is normal.”

Commissioned in 1985, INS Ganga had played a pivotal role in the Gulf of Eden, keeping Somalian pirates at bay a couple of years ago.

The accident comes within a month of new Navy Chief Admiral R K Dhowan joining the office, which had fallen vacant due to the resignation of previous Navy chief Admiral D K Joshi in February, taking moral responsibility for a string of major and minor accidents, beginning with the explosion aboard the submarine INS Sidhurakshak on the eve of the last Independence Day.

A month before Admiral Dhowan took over, Mumbai had witnessed two fatal warship-related accidents
Following these accidents, the Navy has decided to take new steps to reduce the number of accidents and ensure implementation of various safety-related recommendations made by the board of inquires set up following each accident.
DH News Service