The Navy ships were continuing their search on Sunday for the four missing personnel, including an officer, who were lost at sea following the sinking of a Naval auxiliary ship on Thursday night off Visakhapatnam.
Under the influence of a well marked depression off the coast of Andhra Pradesh the sea turned rough and the visibility was poor on Sunday. "Big ships are involved in the search and in case the visibility worsens we might focus more on the search from air," a Navy spokesperson said.
The Navy has pressed into service nine ships and a few aircraft, including Boeing P8i, Dorniers, Seaking 42C and Chetak helicopters, are continuing the search through the day and night since Thursday night.
Indian Navy’s torpedo recovery vessel TRV-A72 sank 38 nautical km off Visakhapatnam on Thursday night. At the time of the incident there were 29 personnel on board. One sailor petty officer marine explosives James Jacob lost his life during the rescue operation and four personnel (one officer and three sailors) are still reported missing. The remaining 24 personnel have been safely brought ashore.