Bodies of four INS Sindhurakshak sailors recovered

Divers of the Indian Navy on Friday recovered the bodies of four sailors from the submarine, INS Sindhurakshak, while hopes are dim over the survival of 14 others. The Navy said that the bodies recovered are badly disfigured and unidentifiable due to severe burns and have, therefore, been sent to the naval hospital for DNA testing.

Also read: 3 bodies recovered from INS Sindhurakshak

In a press release on Friday, the Navy said that finding any surviving personnel within the submarine is unlikely. A statement from the Navy says, "The state of the bodies and conditions within the submarine leads to firm conclusion that finding any surviving personnel within the submarine is unlikely."

Defence PRO Narendra Vispute said eight divers are going in at a time to rescue the Navy personnel trapped inside. He also said that help is being taken from all possible sources.
 
The Navy had on Thursday released the names of the sailors, informing their families of the lack of progress made. Navy divers had been facing challenges in reaching the men trapped because of poor visibility, restricted space and the melted hull. The rescue workers are pumping out water from the submarine, hoping to make it refloat.

While sources in the Navy hope the pumping out of the water is completed in the next 24 to 48 hours, the entire salvage operation could even take up to a month.

The salvage operation is turning out to be tricky and dangerous. Heavy duty pumps are being used to pump out the water from the submarine. The heat of the explosion has melted parts of the internal hull and access to the compartments has reduced as the submarine hatches have deformed.

"The divers have been successful in entering the submarine. Efforts are on to find the Navy personnel who are still trapped inside the submarine," Defence PRO Narendra Vispute said.

Meanwhile, sources have told CNN-IBN that the Indian Navy may be incapable with a rescue operation of this magnitude. Sources also say that the Navy generally contracts two Singapore firms for such operations, like the previous two incidents in the past three years.

But the Indian subsidiary of one of these firms has no required equipment.