Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 10

Two persons, including a Navy man, have died following a gas leakage on board the seaborne aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, the country’s biggest warship.The 44,500-tonne warship was undergoing maintenance at the Karwar naval base, bordering Goa, when the incident occurred at 5 pm today. The accident took place when a team of workers was replacing a pipe in the sewage treatment plant located among the lowermost compartments of the 20-storey tall aircraft carrier. Due to inhalation of the toxic fumes, four personnel — two naval sailors and two civilian workers — were evacuated to the Karwar Naval Hospital.Two persons, Rakesh Kumar, shipwright artificer (Class 4), and Mohandas Kolambkar, an employee of Messers Royal Marine, died of toxic gas inhalation. The next of kin of the deceased have been informed. The condition of the other two personnel is stable. The Navy has ordered an inquiry into the incident. Action has been taken to render the compartment and area on the ship safe.This is the first major refit-and-repair of INS Vikramaditya, or the refurbished Admiral Gorshkov, which was inducted in November 2013 under a $2.33 billion deal with Russia.