Visakhapatnam: A “minor” fire broke out in one of the living compartments of warship ‘INS Savitri' in the Naval dockyard here but there were no casualties.
It was the 16th reported mishap involving naval personnel and assets after the sinking of the Russian-origin submarine INS Sindhurakshak in August last year in which all the 18 personnel on board were killed.
The “minor” fire, suspected to have been caused by an electrical short circuit, was reported on Saturday and it was brought under control by the duty staff on the ship, a statement from Navy said here today.
There were no casualties in the incident and only minor damage was caused to fittings and personal belongings of sailors on board was reported, it said.
There is no impact of the incident on the combat worthiness of the ship, an offshore patrol vessel, it added.
A spate of mishaps involving Naval warships have been reported in the last one year.
Recently, INS Kuthar, a Khukri class corvette, suffered damage while entering the harbour of a naval base in the Andamans and is undergoing repairs there.
The other major mishaps include last year's sinking of INS Sindhurakshak on 14 August, fire on board aircraft carrier INS Virat on 22 September, fire on board INS Konkan on 4 December and accident of INS Talwar with a fishing trawler.
The spate of accidents in the navy resulted in the resignation of former Navy Chief Admiral D.K. Joshi, who took moral responsibility of the accidents and sought voluntary retirement from the maritime force on February 26.
