Indian Navy commander drowns in bid to save colleague

A Lieutenant Commander with the Indian Navy drowned in an accident involving submarine INS Shankush, about 60 nautical miles off the coast of Mumbai on Monday.

At around 8.30 am, INS Shankush was on deployment preparing for an exercise when the submarine developed a snag. One of the crew members went to the surface of the submarine to carry out some maintenance work. However, the sea was choppy due and he was washed away by a huge wave.
"The sea outside was very, very choppy," said a Navy spokesperson. A wave swept across the submarine and the maintenance crew member was thrown into the water.

Commander Firdaus D Mogul, executive officer on board the HDW-built Shishumar Class submarine, was supervising the maintainance and rushed to the surface when he, too, was swept overboard by a wave that lashed the submarine's surface.
"His head hit the surface of the submarine leading to a serious injury," said an officer.
A former Naval officer said it appeared Mogul's head had hit the steel hull of the INS Shankush, a possible accident when a submarine is being tossed around in choppy waters.

According to sources, as soon as both the officers went into the sea, the submarine crew alerted the naval control room which immediately launched a rescue operation along with the Coast Guard.
While a naval ship sailing nearby rushed to the submarine, Coast Guard dispatched its ship, Samrat. Two choppers were also pressed into service.

Though help reached in less than 10 minutes, the choppy sea meant that it took half an hour for the rescuers to get the sailor and the officer back on board. The sailor is reported to have had minor injuries, but Mogul died due to excessive blood loss, which resulted in unconsciousness and ultimately his death due to drowning.
"He was subsequently rescued by a helicopter which was dispatched from (Naval Air Station) INS Shikra," said a statement, adding that he could not, however, be revived. "The post mortem report has indicated death by drowning due to an injury."

Did negligence lead to Lt Cdr Mogul's death?
Meanwhile, Mumbai police is now investigating whether negligence on part of those in charge of the operation was responsible for the incident.
Mumbai Police officers said that, while a case of accidental death had been lodged, they were looking at all angles. They said they were investigating whether there was any negligence that led to the .

However, a naval officer, on condition of anonymity, said that operations such as these were to be conducted with great precaution if the sea was very choppy. "The weather was very rough on Monday morning.
The choppiness of the sea measured four on the Beaufort scale," he said. "That's very high for navigation in the sea. Only large ships can safely sail. For a submarine, with much lesser surface area, the danger is even more. One needs to see whether all necessary precautions were taken while sending the sailor on the surface."

The nature of the malfunction that forced the submariners to undertake repairs in choppy waters remains unclear. It is normal procedure for maintenance crew or others to wear a hook and a belt that secures them to the superstructure when they are out on the casing, but an accident of this nature was still likely in very rough seas, the officer said.
Lt Cdr Firdaus Mogul was commissioned to the Indian Navy in 1998. INS Shankush, along with frigate INS Brahmaputra, was reported to have participated in a naval exercise with French naval ship Dupleix, which arrived in Mumbai on a four-day visit that ended Monday.
Source: IANS/Indian Express