Indian Navy chief Admiral DK Joshi resigns over warship accidents

Navy chief Admiral DK Joshi on Wednesday resigned after two officers were feared killed and seven sailors injured when a fire erupted on board a submarine, INS Sindhuratna, around 40 nautical miles off Mumbai.Taking moral responsibility for the accidents and incidents which have taken place during the past few months, the Navy chief has resigned. The government has accepted the resignation of Admiral Joshi with immediate effect. 

An upset defence ministry sought a detailed report from the Navy since this is the second major accident in the country's ageing submarine fleet in the last six months, which has further dented India's underwater combat arm. 

INS Sindhurakshak, a Russian Kilo-class submarine like INS Sindhuratna, had sunk at the Mumbai naval dockyard, killing three officers and 15 sailors, after a series of internal explosions in its fully-loaded weapons compartment on August 14. INS Sindhuratna, incidentally, was berthed next to INS Sindhurakshak at that time and sustained minor damage to its hull. 

The accident on Wednesday took place when INS Sindhuratna had just begun its "sea workup phase" after undergoing a refit at the Mumbai dockyard from May to December last year. As part of the procedures, the Western Naval Command's commodore commanding submarines SR Kapoor and his inspection team were on board to test both the crew and the submarine before clearing it for operational deployment. 

In all, there were 94 personnel on board.