INS Kesari water ingress was reported on Saturday afternoon while the Indian Navy's tank landing ship was berthed at the Naval Dockyard in Visakhapatnam, the Navy said.

INS Kesari water ingress reported at Naval Dockyard

No injuries or loss of life have been reported, the Navy said in a brief statement.

Pumping operations under way at Visakhapatnam

Pumping began soon after the INS Kesari water ingress was detected, and operations to clear the water were continuing on Saturday evening. The Navy did not give a cause. First statements after a shipboard incident usually deal with the safety of personnel, and the cause is normally established later through a technical assessment.

Local reports said the ship had recently completed repair work and was expected to return to operations within days. This could not be independently confirmed.

The Naval Dockyard serves ships of the Eastern Naval Command, which is headquartered in Visakhapatnam. The Defence Minister met personnel and families at the Eastern Naval Command Barakhana in the city earlier this month, and the port hosted the harbour phase of SLINEX-26 with the Sri Lanka Navy in September.

INS Kesari is a Shardul class tank landing ship

Kesari, pennant number L15, is a Landing Ship Tank (Large) of the Shardul class, built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata. Ships of this type carry tanks, armoured vehicles, troops and stores, and can put them ashore directly on a beach. Their large cargo decks also make them a regular choice for relief missions.

Commissioned at Visakhapatnam in 2008

She was commissioned on 5 April 2008 at the naval base in Visakhapatnam. Kesari is the second ship of the Shardul class after INS Shardul, with INS Airavat completing the three-ship class. According to public records, she displaces around 5,650 tonnes and is about 125 metres long.

INS Kesari carried Mission Sagar aid to five island nations

The ship is best known for Mission Sagar. In May 2020, as Covid-19 spread across the region, she sailed with food, medicines and two naval medical teams for the Maldives, Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros and Seychelles.

Over 55 days she covered around 7,500 nautical miles, calling at Male, Port Louis, Antsiranana, Moroni and Port Victoria, and delivered around 580 tonnes of food aid. The naval medical teams spent 20 days each in Mauritius and Comoros, helping local authorities with their pandemic response. Kesari returned to Kochi on 28 June 2020.

Kesari delivered food aid and interceptor craft to Mozambique

She went back to Africa in December 2021, entering the Port of Maputo on 25 December with 500 tonnes of food aid to help Mozambique cope with drought and the pandemic.

Two Fast Interceptor Craft and self-defence equipment on board were handed over to the Armed Forces of Mozambique.