File photo of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar
There have been 24 mishaps involving Indian naval submarines since 2011, claiming the lives of 22 personnel besides four others going missing, Rajya Sabha was informed today.
While Boards of Inquiry (BoIs) have been instituted in all these cases, the findings of the completed BoIs indicate "human error and technical issues as the reasons behind the mishaps", Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said in reply to a written question.
While three accidents each occurred in 2011 and 2012, seven happened in 2013 and 11 till November 6, this year. The accidents in 2013 included the one involving INS Sindhurakshak in which 18 personnel were killed.
In the latest incident in which TRV-72 (torpedo recovery vehicle) sank off Visakhapatnam on November six, one naval personnel lost his life while four others "still remain missing", Mr Parrikar said, adding six others on board were safely rescued.
To a question on crashes of defence aircraft, he said a total of 24 defence planes have crashed from 2012-13 till November 26 this year.
As many as 32 defence personnel lost their lives in these incidents, while seven others were injured.
The loss to the government in terms of the value of aircraft and service property in respect of 12 of these aircraft, where assessment has been completed, is estimated at Rs 536.98 crore, the minister said.