India launches official investigation into Jalashwa accident

[fatman17]

India launches official investigation into Jalashwa accident
Rahul Bedi JDW Correspondent - New Delhi

Five Indian Navy (IN) personnel died and two officers became seriously ill after accidentally inhaling poisonous gas aboard the INS Jalashwa , the navy's 16,900-ton landing platform dock (LPD), which was recently acquired secondhand from the United States.

The men were conducting repairs on one of the vessel's shafts when the leak occurred during an exercise in the Bay of Bengal on 1 February, an IN spokesman said.

"The accident was the result of the inadvertent inhalation of H 2 S [hydrogen sulphide] gas by a repair party carrying out maintenance work in one of the ship's compartments," an IN statement explained.

The two officers who fell sick were evacuated after the LPD - formerly the Austin-class LPD USS Trenton - docked on 2 February at Port Blair on the Indian-owned Andaman Islands. An official inquiry into the accident is under way.

Meanwhile, an Indian defence delegation is set to leave for Moscow in mid-February to negotiate contentious price and delivery schedules regarding the retrofit of the INS Vikramaditya : the 44,500-ton Kiev-class aircraft carrier (formerly the Admiral Gorshkov ) currently at the Sevmashpredpriyatiye shipyard in northern Russia.

The delegation - led by Defence Secretary Vijay Singh and also comprising IN Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral Nirmal Verma - will conduct a 'physical inspection' of the carrier.

The price of the retrofit was settled at USD954 million in January 2004. However, last year Russia demanded an additional USD1.2 billion, citing the "enormity" of the work involved given that the carrier had been berthed at Sevmashpredpriyatiye for over 12 years and would require 2,400 km of new cabling, rather than the 700 km originally estimated.

Official sources indicated that India was willing to meet Russia "midway" in its demands, which would translate to paying an extra USD500 million to USD600 million. The carrier remains vital to the IN's plans of operating at least two carrier battlegroups by 2015.

 

[Proud to be Pakistani]

I heard Trenton was not accepted by IN.....

 

[Flintlock]

Why does a ship need H2S gas, can anyone explain?

 

[Major Dad]

Yes, the Indians must clarify that what the hell H2S gas was doing aboard INS Jalashwa? If I am not wrong then by the end of 2006 Indians declared the destruction of 75% of their chemical stock piles. The story doesn’t click, man. Amid Indian Chief of Army Staff’s statement, given in a press conference few months back that, “the priority of Indian Armed Forces is to refine competence to handle nuclear, biological and chemical weapons”, the disaster aboard INS Jalashwa raises eyebrows.

 

[su-47]

Yes, the Indians must clarify that what the hell H2S gas was doing aboard INS Jalashwa? If I am not wrong then by the end of 2006 Indians declared the destruction of 75% of their chemical stock piles. The story doesn’t click, man. Amid Indian Chief of Army Staff’s statement, given in a press conference few months back that, “the priority of Indian Armed Forces is to refine competence to handle nuclear, biological and chemical weapons”, the disaster aboard INS Jalashwa raises eyebrows.

are you suggesting that jalashwa was carrying chemical weapons? jalashwa is a landing platform dock. why would an LPD carry chemical weapons?

 

[Major Dad]

are you suggesting that jalashwa was carrying chemical weapons? jalashwa is a landing platform dock. why would an LPD carry chemical weapons?

Who am I to suggest? Pieces were lying openly, I just attempted to solve the jigsaw puzzle. No one stops you Sir. Go ahead and you also give it a try (but the honest one, because you can't fit a round peg in a square hole). You are right that Jalashwa is an LPD but that's what I am asking that there is no such source of Hydrogen Sulphide gas onboard ships. Moreover when compartments are designed for enough ventilation, there is no reason for the death of valuable human lives.