India recovers four bodies from sunken submarine

Indian naval forces have recovered four severely burned bodies of sailors who had been trapped inside a submarine damaged by twin explosions in a Mumbai dockyard.

“Four bodies have been located and extricated… They are severely disfigured and not identifiable due to severe burns,” media outlets quoted a navy spokesman as saying.

The spokesman also said there was no hope of finding any survivors from the damaged submarine. “A search is on for more but finding any survivors is unlikely.”

The developments come a day after the Indian navy submarine with eighteen sailors onboard caught fire and sunk in the port city of Mumbai. The sailors were trapped after an explosion onboard the diesel-electric INS Sindhurakshak.

Rescue teams and fire engines have been deployed to the scene to save the trapped sailors and contain the blaze.

The cause of the explosion is still being investigated. The 16-year-old Russian-made submarine was overhauled in Russia last year.