One person was killed and four others are missing as one naval vessel sank outside Visakhapatnam harbour Thursday evening, local media reported.
Due to flooding, the naval auxiliary ship, Torpedo Recovery Vessel A72, sank outside the Visakhapatnam harbour of South India, according to Navy sources.
"The vessel was on a routine mission to recover torpedoes fired by fleet ships during a routine exercise, when it experienced flooding in one of its compartments," the Navy said.
One sailor has lost his life during the rescue operation and four personnel are reported missing. 23 personnel have been rescued safely by the Search and Rescue (SAR) ships dispatched to the area," Navy said in a statement issued in Delhi.
Navy officials said the flooding happened when the vessel was on its way back after collecting the "dummy" torpedo that was used in the exercise.
The incident happened within 10-15 kms off Vizag post," a Navy spokesperson said in Visakhapatnam. The boat sunk because of "some flooding", he said. The Torpedo Recovery Vessel (TRV) is an auxiliary vessel which is used to recover practice torpedoes fired by fleet ships and submarines.
The ship, which is 23 meters long and 6.5 meters at the beam, was built by Goa Shipyard in 1983 and has served the Indian Navy for the last 31 years.
The accident is one of the many that the Navy has witnessed over in recent times involving submarines. In 2013, 18 sailors were killed in a blast and fire aboard submarine INS Sindhurakshak, while in February 2014, two naval officers lost their lives in a fire onboard the INS Sindhuratna. It led to the resignation of then CNS Admiral DK Joshi.