Navy orders probe into warship fire incident

The Navy has ordered an inquiry into the fire incident on board its minesweeper vessel INS Konkan at the dry dock here yesterday.
A Board of Inquiry has been ordered to look into the fire incident and to find out the reasons behind it, Navy sources said.
The fire incident, termed as minor by the Navy, happened on the Navy Day soon after Navy Chief Admiral D K Joshi asserted that the force's record was "not all that bad" in terms of accidents when compared to other navies in the world.
The force was pulled up by the Defence Minister for the sinking of submarine INS Sindhrakshak recently at the Naval commanders' conference.

Five persons suffered injuries in yesterday's incident, but there was no loss of life. The fire was doused before it could cause any damage.
The ship was in the dry dock for maintenance when the fire broke out.

In recent times, there have been several mishaps involving naval warships. On August 14, INS Sindhurakshak had sunk in the Mumbai naval harbour after an explosion probably in its torpedo section killing all 18 personnel on board.
Soon after that, a fire broke out on aircraft carrier INS Viraat off the coast of Mumbai.
Defence Minister A K Antony had pulled up the Navy for the sinking of INS Sindhurakshak and asked the force not to fritter away expensive resources of the nation.