Navy moves ahead in a bid to salvage TRV

Visakhapatnam: The Indian Navy is evaluating the technical aspects of the bids it received from private firms to salvage the sunken Torpedo Recovery Vessel (TRV) -72. The Indian Navy has decided to, spend around Rs 30 crore for the job and hire a private agency since the Navy doesn’t have expertise to salvage such a vessel.

The Navy had recently floated global tenders calling private agencies to submit their bids. The bid submission date closed last month. The Navy is evaluated technical bids. After zeroing in on a technically sound bid, the financial bids will be opened. Salvaging the vessel can offer vital clues, especially the reasons that led to the sinking of the 110 tonne vessel. It can also offer as a case study to plug any loopholes to curtail such mishaps in future.

MV Olympic Canyon, a chartered vessel of Reliance Industries for offshore work in the KG Basin, which is capable of operating the ROV up to 1,000 metres depth has been roped in to analyse the wreckage of the TRV. The ROV found the wreck of TRV 72 in upright position at about 340 metres depth. The four naval personnel, who went missing and were never traced in the TRV tragedy are Lt Commander Shishir Kumar Y, VK Raju, Sangam Sarma and Gurjeet Singh.