Three dead, 11 injured in explosion on board destroyer INS Ranvir

Three Navy personnel were killed and 11 injured in an explosion on board the ageing destroyer INS Ranvir at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai Tuesday.

The Navy said “no major material damage has been reported” and a board of inquiry has been instituted into the incident.

INS Ranvir, among the oldest warships in the Navy, is a Soviet-era destroyer and was commissioned in April 1986.

The fourth destroyer of the Rajput class, it is the first of the Ranvir class. The other Ranvir class destroyer is INS Ranvijay.

In a statement, the Navy said: “In an unfortunate incident today at Naval Dockyard Mumbai, three naval personnel succumbed to injuries caused by an explosion in an internal compartment on board INS Ranvir.”

The ship’s crew, it said, responded immediately and the situation was quickly brought under control. “No major material damage has been reported,” it said.

The explosion took place between 4.30 and 5 pm while the ship was docked.

The Navy said INS Ranvir was “on cross coast operational deployment from the Eastern Naval Command” since November 2021 and was due to return to base port shortly.

Sources said the three personnel who died were all senior sailors but not officers. The Navy is in the process of reaching out to the families of the dead, and will release their names and details thereafter.

The explosion, sources said, had nothing to do with ammunition or weapons.

A senior officer said the explosion took place in an AC compartment and the three who died were in a compartment above it.

This is the first major incident since June 2019 when a worker died in a fire on board the then under-construction Visakhapatnam destroyer at Mazagon dockyard.

With Thanks Refrence to: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/three-navy-personnel-killed-in-explosion-on-warship-in-mumbais-naval-dockyard-7730541/