Defence expert Praful Bakshi on Friday expressed serious concern over recent sinking of a Navy vessel off the Visakhapatnam coast, saying untoward incidents like these take place due to lack of spare parts.
"When there is lack of spare parts and we don't manufacture it, this happens," Bakshi said.
He also said that it is common to all services, and not limited to just the Indian Navy.
"It seems that the bad luck that has stuck Navy since two- three years is continuing. The sinking of these vessels in accidents and slip-ups are probably creating a lot problem as far as the good name of the Navy is concerned," said Bakshi.
"The sailors and fighter men also get worried about the whole thing as to why such things are happening. Is the reason safety or old parts not being re-placed?" he asked.
"We all know that Navy is a very old and professional service. Supervision is probably not the culprit. I am not certain, but the reason could be the worn out parts which have not have been re-placed," he added.
He further raised the question that how quickly such issues can be resolved.
"It could be something else, could be sabotage, could be so many other things. Let us leave this to the enquiry and then make a statement after the enquiry is completed," he said.
A Torpedo Recovery Vessel, TRV-72 of the Indian Navy on Thursday night sunk off the Visakhapatnam coast during a naval exercise killing one sailor while four others went missing.
According to reports, 23 personnel have been rescued safely by Indian naval ships, out of the 28 sailors who were on board at the time of the incident.
The vessel was on an exercise and its task was to recover practice torpedoes fired by ships of the Fleet , when flooding occurred in one of the compartments, the Indian Navy said in a statement.
The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Indian Navy Captain D.K Sharma, said the accident was caused by flooding in the engine room.
"The search and rescue is on since last night when we first got the report. As of now I can tell you that 23 persons have been rescued, one sailor , who was rescued, could not be revived. So, as of now, there has been one confirmed death, and four people missing-which includes one officer and three sailors," said D.K. Sharma.
A Sea King-42C helicopter with night vision capability was also deployed along with additional ships to assist in the search and rescue operation.
TRV-72 was deployed for a routine torpedo recovery mission. On completion, the vessel was returning to the harbour, when it reported flooding in its steering gear compartment.
Naval ships in the vicinity were immediately rushed to render assistance. Additionally, Dornier and Boeing P8I aircrafts were also deployed.
TRV-72 was built at Goa Shipyard and was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 23 February 1983.
Earlier on October 31, INS Kora also suffered minor damage after it was scraped by a merchant vessel near Visakhapatnam.
