Captain of barge P305 booked for negligence
MUMBAI: Mumbai Police have filed a case against the captain of the barge, P305, that sank in the Arabian Sea amid Cyclone Tauktae leading to the loss of at least 51 lives, after the engineer of the barge filed a complaint accusing him of ignoring an alert issued by the meteorological department.
The first information report (FIR) has been lodged under sections 304(II) (an act done with knowledge that it is likely to cause death), 338 (causing grievous hurt by an act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against the barge captain and others.
“We have registered a complaint against the captain (of the barge) and others on the basis of a statement given by chief engineer Rahman Shaikh who has complained that an alert was issued by the meteorological department but was not taken seriously by the captain and others who should have moved the barge to a safer place,” said joint commissioner of police Vishwas Nangre Patil.
MUMBAI : The Mumbai Police have registered a negligence case against the captain of the barge that sank in the Arabian Sea during Cyclone Tauktae and left at least 49 people dead. The case has been lodged on a complaint by the barge’s chief engineer under Indian Penal Code’s Sections 304(II) (act done with the knowledge that it is likely to cause death), 338 (causing grievous hurt by an act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 34 (common intention).
Joint police commissioner Vishwas Nangre Patil said they have registered the case on the basis of a statement given by chief engineer Rahman Shaikh, who has complained that an alert was issued by the meteorological department but was not taken seriously by the captain and others who should have moved the barge to a safer place.
“It is at a very preliminary stage, but the investigation has started.”
Another police officer said they have recorded the statements of more than 100 survivors, who were rescued by the Indian Navy and Coast Guard from the barge. The concerned company has also been asked to submit the details of employees, who worked on the barge, he added.
According to Afcons Infrastructure, which leads the consortium that had chartered the barge and hired its marine crew, the captain chose to stay in the sea despite instructions for returning to Mumbai Harbour due to the Cyclone.
The barge was deployed at a platform in Heera oil fields, one of the largest of the ONGC rigs in the Arabian sea. It got de-anchored on Sunday night. According to deputy chief of naval staff, vice-admiral Murlidhar Sadashiv Pawar, it sank around 7 pm on Monday, forcing most of its 261 crew members to jump in a very choppy sea.
The rough weather made the Navy’s search and rescue oper
ation one of the most challenging operations the force has undertaken in four decades, said Pawar.
The Navy has so far rescued 186 crew members of the barge and recovered 49 bodies. The search is on for 37 missing persons, who also went missing during the cyclone.