Four disfigured bodies of Indian Sailors that died in the explosion, fire and sinking of India's submarine in Mumbai, have been retrieved from the half-sunken vessel by divers on Friday.
18 sailors were trapped in the vessel when the incident occurred on Wednesday. The remaining 14 are still unaccounted for. The remains extracted today were so badly charred that they could not be readily identified and naval authorities are transferring their remains to the hospital to undergo DNA testing to determine who they are.
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Indian authorities say that it is very unlikely that they will recover any survivors from the fiery mishap. The disaster at the Mumbai shipyard is the worst naval accident that that country has suffered since the sinking of a frigate during India’s war with Pakistan in 1971.
This is the second time that the Russian-built INS Sindhurakshak has caught fire. The first was in 2010, one sailor lost his life during that mishap.
The vessel was preparing to conduct a war patrol close to Pakistan’s shores armed with cruise missiles and torpedoes when the explosion occurred. Veteran Indian submariners say that sabotage should not be ruled out in the incident. Those veterans are not buying the explanation of material failure or the failure to follow standard operating procedures as the cause of the explosion.
It is being argued that the weapons would not have been armed at such an early date, and high temperature and fire would not have been enough to detonate the weapons. The veterans point out that the explosion of the weapons acted as they would have if they were armed. This would not be done unless it was ordered prior to an enemy engagement while underway, and they would not have detonated until a safe distance away from the submarine.