NEW DELHI — A ship collecting torpedoes from practice firings sank on Thursday off the coast of the southern Indian port of Visakhapatnam, killing at least one crew member and leaving four missing, the Indian Navy said.

“It was an absolutely routine operation, but unfortunately she developed some sort of leak,” said D. K. Sharma, a spokesman for the Indian Navy, of the 110-ton steel vessel. The leak flooded the main engine room of the ship, Mr. Sharma said, and became “uncontrolled.” By 8 p.m. Thursday, “we had lost the ship,” he said.

Twenty-four crew members were rescued on Thursday night. Nine navy ships, including destroyers and corvettes, and thousands of members of the navy combed the coast on Friday searching for the remaining crew. Mr. Sharma said he did not know if they drowned with the ship or if they were washed ashore.

The vessel was bought from Goa Shipyard Limited, a public-sector defense company, in 1983. Mr. Sharma said that most of their vessels were significantly younger, and he denied that the ship was too old for use, adding that all ships undergo upgrades every 10 years.