Mumbai,31 Jan 2011:Firefighters, along with Navy personnel, are battling a major blaze to salvage warship INS Vindhyagiri, which is listing after colliding with a merchant vessel in the Mumbai harbour.
“Fire broke out soon after the ship collided with another vessel last evening. The Mumbai fire brigade was alerted early today,” fire brigade sources said.
There is nobody on board the warship as everybody was evacuated last evening.
In the morning, eight fire tankers were sent to douse the fire on board the ship, at naval dockyard, the sources said. The number has since gone up to 16, including six `Jumbo’ tankers, they said.
An official said there was a dent in the warship due to the impact of the collision through which water had gushed into the vessel causing it to tilt to one side.
Defence spokesman Manohar Nambiar said the ship was resting on the sea bed and it cannot sink as there was not enough water.
“The ship is listing on one side. This can be rectified. Once the water is pumped out, it will straighten,” he said.
Asked about the threat of oil spill, he said, “As of now there is nothing like that, but it is always better to take precaution.”
INS Vindhyagiri had collided with a Norwegian container vessel M V Nordlake, in the Mumbai harbour yesterday and was brought to the navy dockyard.
