NEW DELHI, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- The explosion of an Indian navy submarine in Mumbai early Wednesday could be caused by mistakes made during the loading of missiles, local TV channel NDTV said Thursday.
The TV channel quoted unnamed sources of the inquiry team which is looking into the cause of the explosion as saying that at the time of the explosion, navy personnel were conducting the loading of missiles inside the submarine, INS Sindhurakshak.
The submarine underwent a safety certification process in April this year and the results were highly satisfactory, Admiral DK Joshi, chief of the Naval Staff, told a press conference at the naval dockyard Wednesday.
Following its refurbishment in Russia, the submarine was reassigned to the Indian Navy in April this year and it had completed 1,000 diving hours, he said.
Debris of missiles and booster were found in the dockyard where the incident took place. Experts say the explosion was clearly caused by military dynamites instead of other chemicals, such as hydrogen from battery, as was suspected earlier.
Day|Week|Month