An Indian naval submarine on a routine mission collided with a cargo ship in the Arabian Sea off Pakistan, officials said on Thursday, adding that there were no reports of casualties.
The 2,500-ton INS Sindhughosh, with a crew of 53, sustained only 'superficial damage' to its conning tower, Indian Navy spokesman Nirad Sinha said. However, according to naval officials who asked not to be named, the vessel was seriously damaged.
The navy declined to comment on the extent of damage to the Cayman-registered merchant vessel or reveal its current whereabouts. "The ship m.v. Leeds Castle was in restricted waters and in that area the depth is not much and hence the mishap," the spokesman said.
The submarine has been towed to a naval dockyard at Mumbai. The naval officials said the submarine was submerged and had its radars off and periscope down when it slammed into the ship off India's Diu Island, 400 nautical miles (460 statute miles) from Mumbai.
Diu lies 70 nautical miles from Pakistani waters. The diesel-powered Sindhughosh, which was acquired from the then-Soviet Union in 1986, had returned from Russia last year after an extensive refit. It carries Russian-designed land-attack Klub-S cruise missiles.
The collision came just after naval intelligence received alerts of possible strikes against its warships off Pakistan, naval sources said. Last year, a 450-ton Indian Navy patrol ship sank off India's Goa state after ramming a merchant carrier, prompting a massive mission to rescue 73 crew members from the Arabian Sea.
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