Barge P305: Casualties of Cyclone Tauktae

On May 17, Papaa 305 sank off the Mumbai coast. Many of the 261 on board jumped into the sea in a bid to survive. Here’s remembering those who died

Four more bodies of deceased crew members of P305, an accommodation barge that sank off the coast of Mumbai on May 17, were identified on May 25 a day after the Indian Navy called off its Search and Rescue (SAR) operations after a week.

The accommodation barge sank in Heera Oil Fields off the coast of Mumbai as Cyclone Tauktae barreled its way northwards along the Konkan coast. By the time the boat sank, most of the 261 people on board had jumped into the swirling Arabian Sea with their life jackets, hoping that help was on its way. The barge became unmoored on May 16, after all 12 of its anchors broke away and by the following afternoon, water had begun to fill into the vessel.

The SAR operations have rescued 186 people from P305 till now, and 71 bodies have been recovered, of which 52 people have been identified. The identification process for the remaining 19 is ongoing. The police is collecting DNA samples of relatives to ascertain the identity of the unidentified bodies.

A tugboat, Varaprada, which was also missing along with 11 of its 13 crew members (two were rescued last week), was recovered from the seabed 20 nautical miles off the coast of Mumbai on May 24. Three of the eight bodies discovered in Daman and Valsad’s shores were of the crew members of the tugboat.

P305 – owned by Durmast Enterprises Limited, and chartered by a consortium led by Afcons Industries to carry out a project contract for the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) –received a warning of an impending storm, but chose to drop anchor close to the oil rig while other barges and vessels made their way to safety onshore. Both ONGC and Afcons have announced compensation for crew members. ONGC released a statement on Tuesday stating that it has handed over immediate relief amount to 56 survivors of Barge Papaa-305 and Varaprada in Mumbai. ONGC teams are on their way to hand over 22 more. “A nodal officer has been assigned from ONGC to each family of deceased, who is responsible for facilitating their logistics, boarding, lodging, counselling, completing formalities and transportation of mortal remains to respective home station and any local support,” the state-owned company said. Last week, Afcons also released a statement which said that it would provide compensation to the families of the deceased that would be a combination of “ex-gratia pay-outs and insurance compensation and would range from ₹35 lakh to ₹75 lakh per family.”

In October 2020, Ajay Singh left his family in Ajagara village of Azamgarh district in Uttar Pradesh, to work on the accommodation barge,

P305. According to his brother, Sanjay, he earned ₹700 a day for a 12-hour duty. Riggers work at shipyards lifting, moving and positioning heavy equipment, machines and oversized loads. Singh was the main breadwinner of his family, which comprised his wife, a son who studies in class 10, and a daughter, a student of class 7. Initially, his family members requested a distant relative, JP Singh, who resides in Koperkhairane, to visit the JJ Hospital mortuary where the P305 deceased were being brought in, to identify the body. However, the relative could not identify Ajay, as he had last seen him at his wedding nearly 20 years ago. Eventually, Sanjay, a 35-year-old farmer, reached

Mumbai and identified his brother’s body. Afcons Industries flew his brother’s body back to the state, Sanjay said.

Upendra Singh, a rigger on P305, belonged to a small village in Devaria district of Uttar Pradesh. His younger brother Satyendra (35) also worked as a rigger on another vessel, Trinity Nissi, which was also chartered by the consortium led by Afcons Infrastructure and was stationed at Heera Oil Fields. Singh had just joined work in October. On May 14, when the cyclone warning went out, Trinity left for the Mumbai shore but P305 moved 200 metres from the rig and dropped anchor. Satyendra identified his brother’s body at JJ hospital on May 20 and performed last rites back in their village two days later. The company helped fly the body back, and took care of the expenses, Satyendra said. Singh is survived by his wife, elderly parents and three children – two daughters, aged 12 and three, and a son aged five.

Sachindra Prasad Singh hailed from Darbhanga in Bihar, and worked as a barge surveyor. On May 17, Singh jumped into the choppy waters but could not be rescued. His son, Rudra Kumar, 26, came down to the city to identify the body and said that his family is inconsolable. “My family is in deep shock. We are busy in performing the rituals. My family is not in position to express the loss. It would not be easy for us to come out of this. I lost my father. It’s irreparable. The police must seriously investigate the matter and punish those responsible for it.”

Shivkumar Mishra, who hailed from Kushinagar district in Uttar Pradesh, had been working on the barge since October 2020 as a supervisor. His earnings helped support a 17-year-old son and a 19-year-old daughter. The last call he made to his family was around 8.30am on May 17. Mishra told his wife that the network was bad but she should not worry; he would call her once the weather turned normal. That was the last call that the 52-year-old made to his family. Mishra’s older brother who was supposed to come to Mumbai to enable a DNA test, tested positive for Covid and couldn’t travel. A relative from the village will carry some of his hair and nails to Mumbai, Santosh Mishra, a relative, said.

A resident of Gopalganj in Bihar, Arjun Pandey worked as gas cutter and welder on barge P305 starting January this year. The soon-to-be-father was the sole bread winner of his family and sent most of his earnings (₹1,300 daily for 12 hours of work) back home. Pandey came to Mumbai on January 10 and joined work in last week of January. As the cyclonic storm barreled its way up north the coastline, Pandey called his pregnant wife on May 17 at around 7 am. He told her about the barge which sent out an SOS signal to the Indian Navy after the storm intensified to an extremely severe cyclonic storm earlier that morning. That was the last she heard from him. A relative identified his body on May 20 after he scoured the list of survivors put out by the Navy.

Krishna Kumar Prajapati, 28, was the only child of his parents who are farmers in

Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh.

Prajapati, worked as welder, earning ₹600 a day for 12 hours. On many days, he worked a few hours overtime to earn ₹150 to ₹200 more every day. He wanted to save enough money to send home as the pandemic had affected his family’s finances. Prajapati’s relatives also worked on the barge. One named Anil finished his contract on February 28. It was he who identified Prajapati’s body at the mortuary. Another cousin, 22-year-old Anup Prajapati, worked as helper on the same barge, but he returned to land 10 days previously after receiving message of his parents’ illness. On May 16, as the storm began to gather intensity, Prajapati sent a message to Anup: “Cyclone ki wajah se barge full out hai” [The barge has gone out to the sea because of the cyclone].

Vishal Katdare, a resident of Ambernath in Thane district, had just got married in March, when he got this job offer. It was a tough decision to make but Katdare decided to take the job and joined the barge in April. “The family has not heard anything on the progress of the investigation of the case. We want a detailed investigation by police to find out if any one’s negligence led to the incident. The family members are in trauma and are not in condition to speak to anyone. They are shattered,” said Pawan Kulkarni, Katdare’s cousin, who identified the body.

Santosh Yadav, who hailed from Jaunpur in Uttar

Pradesh, had worked as electrician on P305 since

November 2020. The 32year-old had married early and had three children: two sons and a daughter, all aged between six and 11 years. Yadav earned around ₹1000 a day for 12 hours of work, most of which went back to his family, a relative said. For the past three days, Yadav’s family members including his aged father, Mathura Prasad, have been pacing the JJ Hospital compound as they wait anxiously for news from the Navy’s search and rescue operations. On Monday, the search operations were called off. Mathura Prasad, a farmer, said that the process of identification through DNA is going on.

A Pune resident, Nilesh Pitale worked as fire safety officer on the barge P305. Some survivors whom HT spoke to remembered Pitale with gratitude. The 44year-old helped several crew members by distributing biscuits and water after their vessel began to fill up with water which made it impossible to access the food in the kitchen. The barge, which got unmoored after all 12 of its anchors broke off, began to fill up with water on May 17. Younger brother Vishwanath, who also lives in Pune and works in a courier company, identified Pitale’s body at JJ Hospital and took the body for cremation on May 21. Pitale leaves behind a wife, two elderly parents, a 17-yearold son and an 11-year-old daughter. He was the main earning member in his family.

Pappuram Meghwal worked as a pipe fitter with his older brother Amararam (40) and younger cousin Mahendra

Runawat (19) on the barge. Married with two children, Pappuram jumped into the water with his two brothers before the barge sank on May 17. However, he couldn’t survive the choppy waters. His body was identified by his father last week and taken back to the village in an ambulance from Mumbai. His last rites were performed on May 22.

A resident of Pali district of

Rajasthan, Amararam was working on the barge P305 as a pipe fitter. On May 17, when the barge was going under water, he jumped into the sea, holding the hand of his younger brother, Pappuram, and a cousin, 19year-old Mahendra Runawat. Amararam and Pappuram died after spending four to five hours in the very choppy sea, but their younger cousin survived. Amararam’s body was identified by another cousin brother, Kishor, on May 24. The family has received two cheques of ₹5 lakh from Afcons, Kishor said adding that the loss of income will hit the family hard. The body was transported to Rajasthan by ambulance on May 24, while his brother’s body was handed to the family over the weekend. The last rites of both brothers have been conducted. Amararam is survived by a wife, two children and elderly parents.

Ranalakhi Kumar had worked as a technician on P305 since November 2020. On May 17, as the barge began to sink, he jumped into the rough sea along with many others. His cousin Rana Singh worked as a technician on Trinity Nissi, another barge that was working at Heera Oil Fields and returned to shore after receiving the cyclone warning. While P305 had 261 on board, Trinity Nissi had 250 people on board and it was anchored near the Mumbai harbour. On May 19, many workers on board fought with the Master to return to land. They had heard what happened to P305, and some like Rana, had family members on that barge. Rana is still waiting for news of his cousin whose body has still not been identified. Kumar, a resident of Chhapara district in Bihar has two children, a 4-yearold daughter and one-year-old son.

Yogendra Yadav, a resident of

Kushinagar district, Uttar

Pradesh was a rigger aboard

P305 – a profession that he has been in for the past 12 years. He earned around ₹26,000 per month, most of which he sent back to his family which comprised of a wife and five children including three daughters and two sons ranging from 22 to 7 years.he was the sole breadwinner of his family and his death has hit them hard. His nephews Gulshan Yadav (20) and Pankaj (25), residents of Nalasopara identified the body. Gulshan said that Yadav’s wife is “in shock”. “My aunt is still in shock and clueless about how would she raise all the children alone. She is under tremendous trauma as the incident happened at a time when there was already so much pandemic related panic around.” Yadav’s body was cremated in his home town last week.

Kulwinder Singh, a resident of Gurdaspur, Punjab had been working on the barge as a rigger and earned between ₹20,000 to ₹22,000 a month, most of which he sent to his family back home. A relative Jagpreet Singh, who was also on the barge and jumped into the choppy waters, survived. He identified Singh’s body. Jagpreet was angry that the barge continued to stay on in the sea despite the cyclone warning, especially as other barges made their way back to safety. “The people responsible for the tragedy should not be spared and must face strict action,” he said. Singh is survived by his wife, two sons aged 8 and 12 years and a 5-year-old daughter. “After the tragedy his family is in shock. The government should give a job to the family. Only monetary compensation won’t be of much help as he was the only earning member in the poor family,” Jagpreet said. 1) Mohan Varsi Krishna, 33

2) Azahar Yunus Gaddi, 25 3) Sachindra Prasad Anand Singh, 4) Navinkumar Pramod Singh, 29 5) Arjun Pandey, 33

6) Prabhat Virendra Singh, 45 7) Pramod Rajdev Pathak, 45 8) Rajpal Jay Yadav, 50

9) Arjun Munnapi Thangapan, 38 10) Sasus Ismile, 25

11) Anthony Edwin, 26

12) Jomish Joseph, 35

13) Sumesh V. S., 30

14) Anant Carpenter, 36

15) Yogesh Girgosavi, 33

16) Girish Bhausaheb Wagh, 37

17) Nilesh Pitale, 44

18) Amarraj Barnbas, 43

19) Dina Haridayanand Singh, 34 20) Golakh Chandra Sahoo, 52

21) Mata Prasad Mangala Singh, 29 22) Mahanish Kulkarni, 34

23) Pappuram Udaram Meghwal, 24) Vishal Vasant Kathadare, 35

25) Kulwinder Ajit Singh, 45

26) Mandeep Jaywant Singh, 32

27) Manpreet Balwant Singh, 26

28) Manjeet Singh, 42

29) Ajay Shivprasad Singh, 39

30) Sandeep Singh Santosh Singh, 31) Upendra Radheshyam Singh, 42 32) Vijaveer Dharmaraj Singh, 33

33) Sushil Kumar Shiv Singh Pal, 23 34) Sandeep Kumar Yadav, 33

35) Yogendra Sarada Yadav, 43,

36) Ajaysingh Rajendra Singh Rana, 37) Rohit Jaypal, 22

38) Suresh Krushna, 45

39) Omprakash Mishra, 40

40) Radheshyam Thakur, 27

41) Anant Kumar Chaurasiya, 36

42) Sanish Joseph, 21

43) Akash Ramsingh, 28

44) Krishnakumar Prajapati, 29

45) Aditya Kumar Bind, 37

46) Pralhad Forward Singh (age not known)

47) Vivek Das (age not known)

48) Dipakar Mukundbihari Vishwas (age not known)

49) Sanjal Biswas, 28

50) Vijay Singh Murlidhar, 24 NAMES OF THE TWO CREW MEMBERS YET TO BE RELEASED