HA 4 Rakesh Kumar NM

HA 4 Rakesh Kumar, was serving on 45000 ton INS Vikramaditya, the country’s largest warship in 2016 and was a Hull Artificer, trained to work on the repair of ship hulls.

On 10 June HA 4 Rakesh Kumar was made part of the team assigned to the task of overseeing fitment of a newly fabricated Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) pipe by two civilian contract-workers. The sailor was assigned the task of connecting and supervising the operation of a submersible pump and was positioned in the Power Generation Room (PGR), one deck above the compartment containing the Cofferdam, with access to the Cofferdam being only through a long vertical ladder that led down from a narrow hatch. The cofferdam is a water tight structure used while conducting repairs of a ship below its water line.

During the pipe-replacement process, HA 4 Rakesh Kumar heard someone shouting from the compartment below and saw a civilian emerging from it in a semi-conscious state. The sailor went down the ladder, picked up the civilian on his shoulder and climbed up the vertical ladder to the PGR, laying him down under an AC vent. He then learnt that the other civilian was also unconscious in the Cofferdam. Without any thought to his own safety, the sailor clambered down the vertical ladder again and with no hesitation entered the Cofferdam where he saw his team leader wearing an Emergency Life saving Apparatus (ELSA) set and trying to pick up the civilian worker. HA4 Rakesh, with all his strength, tried to lift the second civilian, but was unable to do so as his clothes were slippery and entangled with deck fittings in the narrow space. Despite knowing the dangers of the probable presence in the space of toxic gas and its consequences, HA 4 Rakesh did not relent in his efforts and continued trying to bodily lift the civilian out of the Cofferdam in the hope of saving his life. He, however, lost track of time, and whilst continuing his vain but valiant efforts, also succumbed to the toxic gas inhalation and collapsed inside the Cofferdam.

HA 4 Rakesh Kumar, was awarded Nao Sena Medal for this feat of exemplary courage in saving the civilians working in the congested space infested with the deadly poisonous gases with scant regard to his own safety, in the highest traditions of the Service.