New Delhi, September 19
The Ministry of Defence is planning to hire a global professional salvaging company to extract the sunken Indian submarine INS Sindhurakshak.

The submarine had capsized following a blast and fire on board on August 14 while it was docked at the Mumbai naval dockyard. Since then, divers have been trying to locate bodies of the 18 Navy personnel who were in the submarine at that time. Nine bodies have been found and identified and the fears are that the remaining may have been burnt in the fire. The deceased have been declared “battle casualties”. This will enable their wives or parents to get full pension till they are alive.

Source said the armament on board the submarine, like Torpedoes, could pose no danger to nearby localities in Mumbai’s Colaba area. However, these would need to be handled with care. There is no chance of their detonating of their own, but these would have to be taken out along with the submarine. Salvaging operations work on the principle of “no cure, no pay’, meaning in case the salvaging company cannot take out the submarine as per desired specification, it will not be paid.

Despite this clause, the MoD is playing safe and is looking for one of the experienced salvagers. Seven companies have expressed interest in the work and their credentials are being verified.

The cost of salvaging could run into hundreds of crores, but the submarine has to be taken out for the Navy to complete its Board of Inquiry and also to vacate space at the harbour. The one-month deadline given to the Board of Inquiry has been extend, official sources said.