The Indian navy suffered yet another mishap today with gas leakage in an under-construction warship in the Mazagaon Docks here, claiming the life of a Commander and hospitalisation of two dockyard employees.
In the 11th incident in seven months stalking naval assets, Commander Kuntal Wadhwa, 42, lost his life after he inhaled carbon dioxide that was leaking from a malfunctioning unit just a little after noon while undergoing trials in the Mazagon Dockyard Limited (MDL), officials said.
Two employees of the defence ministry shipyard also were affected by the gas leakage and were taken to hospital, in the second mishap to involve the navy in nine days. An MDL official said they have been discharged.
The Kolkata Class 'Yard-701' warship is yet to be commissioned and was slated to be inducted into operational service soon.
The Navy and the shipyard have set up separate boards of inquiry into the incident.
"Navy officer Kuntal Wadhva, 42, was declared dead before admission in St George Hospital at 1317 hours. He was a resident of Colaba and his relatives are coming from Thane," Additional CP Krishna Prakash.
"Yard-701, being built by Mazagaon Docks Limited, while undergoing machinery trials in Mumbai Port Trust had a malfunction in its carbon dioxide unit, leading to gas leakage," an MDL spokesperson said.
Prakash said that at about 1245 hours during fire fighting testing, the CO2 bottle neck opened accidentally, releasing the gas.
Last week, INS Sindhuratna had met with a fire accident in which two officers lost their lives leading to the resignation of former Navy Chief Admiral DK Joshi.
