Collision of ships off Goa coast like a 'hit and run' case: Navy

New Delhi, Apr 25 (UNI) Indian Navy today disclosed that its patrol vessel, 'INS Prahar', which sank off the Goa coast on Friday night following a collision with a container ship, was dragged by it for quite some time after the two vessels got linked with each other.

A Navy official, preferring anonymity, told UNI that those, who were slapping charges of ''irresponsibility and carelessness'' on the Navy personnel, were not aware that the container ship, identified as MV Rajiv Gandhi, did not even bother to stop after the collision.

''After great difficulty, a Navy officer managed to get on board the container ship even though it was a dark night, and asked its personnel to stop,'' the official said.

Strongly reacting to the allegations being heaped on the Navy personnel, he said MV Rajiv Gandhi ''must not be given a clean chit'' for this accident.

Yet, Navy officials are absolutely amazed as to how the entire patrol vessel sank. ''This appears to be a unique mishap in which the captain of the ship could not save it from sinking.'' The official said there were 73 Navy personnel on board the ship, and preliminary reports of the incident confirmed that they were brought back to the shore safe and in batches.

''This makes it clear as daylight that the crew members were engaged in saving the ship,'' he pointed out.

Likening the incident to a ''hit and run'' case, it was like ''a heavy truck ramming into a bicycle because the patrol vessel, weighing mere 500 tonnes, had collided with the container ship that weighed 21,000 tonne.'' The official further said that it is universally known that personnel of a merchant ship go to sleep after putting the vessel on autopilot. ''But Navy personnel are also aware of it, and they should have exercised greater caution. However, a mishap on the sea is not like a road accident wherein the captain of the ship coming from the opposite direction should go scot-free by saying that he did not have any other alternative.'' He said if two vessels were engaged in a collision in the open seas, the onus for it lay on both of them.

INS Prahar was returning to Mumbai from Goa after participating in a major naval exercise, when it collided with the container ship at 2145 hrs at a distance of 20 nautical miles from the coast.

Six naval, two Coast Guard ships, passing merchant vessels, a dornier aircraft and two naval helicopters were deployed for search and rescue in the area.

The Navy has ordered a high-level inquiry into the collision.

Navy officials are angry that they have lost a Rs 200-crore ship, which was drafted into its fleet in 1997. But they are also heavig a sigh of relief that that the captain of the patrol vessel who was instrumental in saving all the 73 personnel on board.

UNI SKS PA VP1954