INS Brahmaputra fire: Who was the 25-year-old missing sailor whose body has been found after 3 days?

The body of the sailor who went missing after a major fire broke out onboard the Indian Navy’s warship INS Brahmaputra has been found. Three days after the mishap, divers recovered the body of the Leading Seaman early Wednesday (July 24).

The guided missile frigate was severely damaged and tilted to a side after the blaze on Sunday. The fire was doused by Monday morning and the shift is listed to the left.

Who was the sailor whose body was retrieved? Can the INS Brahmaputra sail again? We explain.

Missing sailor’s body found

The Leading Seaman whose body was recovered after intensive diving operations was identified as 25-year-old Sitendra Puran Singh.

As per an Indian Express report, he was from Rajasthan’s Surajgarh.

The Navy has expressed condolences to Singh’s family. It said in a statement, “Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, and all personnel of the Indian Navy extend their deepest condolences to the family of Sitendra Singh. The Indian Navy stands resolutely with the bereaved family in this hour of grief.”

According to Navy officers, a fire erupted onboard INS Brahmaputra when it was undergoing a refit at Mumbai Harbour. The ship’s duty staff noticed the blaze during the routine maintenance work, reported Indian Express. 

The fire was extinguished by the crew of the warship with the help of firefighters at the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai on Monday morning. The Navy had said that one junior sailor was not accounted for after the fire.

The cause of the fire will only be known after the Navy’s inquiry.

The ship was in the dock in Mumbai for retrofitting, which all Navy warships undergo periodically. During this, the vessel, including its sensors, weapon systems and other equipment on board, is upgraded, as per Indian Express.

Navy chief visits the Naval Dockyard

On Tuesday (July 23), Navy chief Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi visited the Naval Dockyard to assess the situation.

“He [Admiral Tripathi] reviewed the sequence of events leading to the accident and efforts undertaken to locate the missing sailor,” Commander Mehul Karnik, spokesperson of Western Naval Command, said in a statement.

The Navy chief was apprised of “mitigating actions taken to limit the extent of the damage, plan to recover and undertake repairs to restore the ship’s functionality at the earliest,” the statement said.

“The Chief of Naval Staff directed that all actions by the Command and Naval Headquarters to make INS Brahmaputra seaworthy and combat ready are to be initiated immediately,” it added.

Can INS Brahmaputra sail again?

The INS Brahmaputra is India’s first indigenously built ‘Brahmaputra’ class-guided missile frigate, which was commissioned into the Navy in 2000.

Efforts will be made to make the frontline warship sailworthy as soon as possible, officials told Indian Express.

They said the cause of the fire was yet to be known but it was unlikely an accident involving collision or a dry dock fall – which is many times irreparable.

The officials told the newspaper that water might have collected in the upper compartment of the ship, which could have led it to tilt on one side.

In December 2016, the 3,850-tonne INS Betwa tipped over to one side while undocking in Mumbai. Two sailors died and 15 others were injured in the accident. However, the warship was successfully reinstated by the American firm Resolve Marine in less than two months.

The company says on its website that Betwa “capsized on her port side due to a loss of stability while undocking”. According to Resolve Marine, its specialists “working alongside the Indian Navy…inspected all compartments of the vessel, then proceeded to patch and repair all damages, and secure all openings”.

ALSO READ: INS Brahmaputra and more: Why are India’s warships so prone to fire in peacetime, and at home?

Past accidents involving warships

In 2022, three naval personnel died of injuries due to an explosion aboard the Navy’s destroyer ship INS Ranvir.

A fire on board the Russian-origin Kilo Class submarine INS Sindhuratna led to the death of two sailors off the coast of Mumbai in 2014.

In 2013, as many as 18 crew members were killed after the Kilo-class submarine INS Sindhurakshak exploded.

The Nilgiri-class frigate INS Vindhyagiri collided with a German merchant vessel at Mumbai harbour in 2011, triggering a fire.

With inputs from agencies