A crappy day in the Arabian Sea.

The Indian Naval Submarine Sindhughosh collided with the merchant ship MV Leeds Castle in the Arabian Sea off Pakistan yesterday.

The 2500-ton INS Sindhughosh, with a crew of 53, sustained only superficial damage to its conning tower, Indian navy spokesman Nirad Sinha said.

But according to naval official,s who asked not to be named, the vessel was seriously damaged.

The navy declined to comment on the extent of damage to the Cayman-registered merchant vessel or reveal its current whereabouts.

"The ship MV Leeds Castle was in restricted waters and in that area the depth is not much and hence the mishap," the spokesman said.

The submarine has been towed to a naval dockyard at the western Indian city of Mumbai.

The naval officials said the submarine was submerged and had its radars off and periscope down when it slammed into the ship off India's Diu island, 400 nautical miles from Mumbai. Diu lies 70 nautical miles from Pakistani waters.

The fact that Sindhughosh was towed back to port would indicate that damage is far more extensive than "superficial". There is a lot of speculation about what actually happened and why, none of it apparently coming from very well informed sources.

There is something which caught my attention however. This piece, issued right after the collision, contains a little nugget. While it discusses the various ramifications of the collision within the context of its effect on the Indian Navy (and the fact that the submarine and crew were extremely lucky that the prang happened while at periscope depth), Canada's name suddenly leaps out.

The second ramification is the absence of a Deep Sea Rescue Vehicle (DSRV). The Canadian contract for a DSRV is under investigation of corruption. Indian Navy has not purchased another one. It is a wake up call. The status of India-U.S. agreement for Submarine rescue is not yet clear.

That's the first I've heard about that... and I love a good hunt.

Update: Jay in comments has already started to do some digging into the Canadian connection. His comment is worth reading since there may be nothing at all to the suggestion that there is corruption surrounding a Canadian-made Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle for the Indian Navy.

We'll keep looking.