Seventh body found in sunken submarine

Naval divers Monday recovered a seventh body from the sunken submarine INS Sindhurakshak which sank Aug 14 after suffering explosions and catching fire at the Naval Dockyard here, officials said.

The body has been taken to the government-run Sir J.J. Hospital for autopsy. The condition of the body is not known.

A round-the-clock search still continues for the remaining 11 of the 18 sailors who were trapped at the time of the tragedy last Wednesday.

Grappling with zero visibility, navy divers have been carrying out the search in the cramped spaces of the submarine by "feeling" the interiors to trace bodies.

According to doctors, the bodies have been brought out in a badly decomposed states and charred beyond recognition. Preliminary reports of doctors indicated that the sailors died due to severe burns, asphyxiation and drowning in the incident.

Scans, X-rays and DNA tests have been performed on them to ascertain the identity before handing them over to anxious relatives who have been camping in Mumbai since the past five days.

These would be matched with the DNA of the family members of the 18 sailors who perished in the tragedy.

Mumbai police have registered a case of accidental death in the tragedy while the Indian Navy has ordered a board of inquiry to investigate the cause of the incident, which led to the loss of the submarine.