3 Indian naval personnel killed in Mumbai warship blast

Three Indian naval personnel were killed in an explosion on one of the country’s oldest destroyers at a naval dockyard in Mumbai, authorities said.

The blast occurred in an internal compartment on the Soviet-built INS Ranvir, commissioned in 1986, according to the Indian Navy.

“No material damage has been reported … [A] board of inquiry has been ordered to investigate into the cause,” the navy said in a statement.

Broadcaster NDTV quoted sources saying the explosion did not involve weapons or ammunition. Media reports said 11 people were also injured and were being treated at a navy hospital.

The Indian government is in the middle of a huge modernisation of its armed forces to replace old equipment, much of it Soviet vintage.-AFP

 

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