Article Posted on : - Feb 01, 2011

NEW DELHI (PTI): The Navy has ordered a Board of Inquiry (BOI) to look into the reasons behind collision of one of its warships with a merchant vessel in the Mumbai harbour and explore its future operational worth.

The Navy has also lodged an FIR in Mumbai against the cargo ship MV Nordalke which collided with the INS Vindhyagiri in the harbour Sunday.

"An FIR has been lodged with Mumbai police and MV Nordlake is held back in the Mumbai harbour. An inquiry is being ordered onto the incident," Navy officials said here.

The BOI, they said, will also look into the reasons behind the collision and assess the damage done to the ship.

It will also recommend if the ship was fit to be used again for operations or not.

After the collision, the ship is lying on the sea bed in the Naval dockyard and cannot sink completely as the water level is very low there, they said.

Fire had engulfed INS Vindhyagiri after the accident and due to a dent, water flooded it. Thereafter, it was safely berthed alongside in the naval harbour.

Taking safety precautions, all the ammunition on board the warship was cleared and efforts were made by personnel there to contain the fire and flooding on board, the officials said. "Necessary measures have also been taken to prevent any spillage of oil from the ship," they added.

Commissioned in 1981, the INS Vindhyagiri was a fully-operational Leander-class frigate.