INS Vindhyagiri, ruined in a fire, will be destroyed by Navy

Mumbai: For nearly 16 months, the INS Vindhyagiri has been anchored at the Mumbai harbour, decaying away, with ammunition within, according to the Navy. Attempts to remove the ammunition would come with serious risks of explosion, the Navy has said in the Bombay High Court. In response, the court has said the ship can be destroyed.

The Vindhyagiri caught fire when it collided with a merchant vessel near the Mumbai harbour last year. The warship, which was commissioned in the early 80s, had taken a group of officers and their families for a picnic at sea. On its way back, it hit another ship leaving the harbor. Nobody was injured but the Vindhyagiri was virtually ruined. A hole in its starboard or right side saw water gushing into the ship; a fire extended to the engine and boiler rooms.

So the Navy asked the Bombay High Court for permission to destroy the warship. The court's permission was needed because the Army has asked for compensation from the owner of the MV Nordlake, the Cyprus-flagged ship that collided with the Vindhyagiri.

"The dockyard where INS Vindhyagiri is presently grounded is occupied by several other naval warships. There are other merchant vessels that also ply into the city port which is in the same vicinity. Keeping such ammunition is unsafe and may cause risk to the other ships," the Navy said in its application.

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"It is imperative not only in national interest, but also in the interest of the safety of life and property in the vicinity that the naval ship be disposed of in the mode and manner that authorities destroy old and decommissioned ships," the navy said in court.