At least 26 dead on Arabian Sea barge amid rescue ops
MUMBAI: The Indian Navy and Coast Guard’s ships and aircraft trawled the waters off Mumbai’s coast on Wednesday after Cyclone Tauktae sank a barge and battered at least three other vessels and facilities in the Arabian Sea, with 26 confirmed dead and 49 still missing more than 48 hours into a challenging rescue operation.
The “extremely severe” cyclone, the most powerful one to barrel through the region in over two decades, caused gusts of wind up to 210kmph and nine-metre waves as it raced past Mumbai and made landfall in Gujarat on Monday night. It led to the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people in coastal states, with at least five dozen others losing their lives in storm-related incidents.
“Indian Navy’s Search and Rescue (SAR) operations off Mumbai and Gujarat entered their third day today (Wednesday). Indian Naval ships and aircraft are presently undertaking SAR of the missing crew members of Accommodation Barge P305, which sank on May 17, 35 miles off Mumbai… As of now, 186 crew members of Accommodation barge P305, and two from Tug Varaprada have been rescued by Indian Navy ships and aircraft,” the Indian Navy said.
The barge named P305 (Papaa 305), with living quar
ters for 261 people working offshore, sank after the storm battered the Bombay High oilfield on Monday near Mumbai, where some of the country’s biggest offshore oil rigs are located. The facility and two other barges that were hit by the cyclone were deployed by Afcons for a contract from state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC).
All 137 people on board barge Gal Constructor, which ran aground about 90km north of Mumbai’s Colaba Point, were rescued on Tuesday by the navy and the Indian Coast Guard, a person involved in the operation said. The 196 people on barge SS-3 and 101 personnel on board oil rig Sagar Bhushan were also brought to safety, he added. The three barges and the oil rig housed 695 people in total.
In a challenging air and sea mission, rescuers secured 180 of the 261 crew members from P305 by Tuesday evening, about 20 hours after they were forced to jump into the extremely rough sea after the barge sank.
Six more people were picked up by the rescuers on Wednesday, the navy said. An officer said search and rescue operations were on for the remaining 49 crew members of the accommodation barge.
“Search and rescue operations are still on. However, the chances of finding more survivors are getting bleaker by the hour,” the official said, asking not to be named.
The oil ministry on Wednesday constituted a high-level committee to investigate the sequence of events leading to the stranding of three vessels of the contractor of ONGC.
“The stranding, drifting and subsequent events have led to loss of several lives,” a ministry statement said without giving details.
The Mumbai Police will conduct a probe as to why P305 stayed in the area despite warnings about Cyclone Tauktae, an official said on condition of anonymity.
In a statement, Afcons said: “P305 had a full complement of safety equipment including life jackets and life rafts for all persons on board.” ONGC said it was extending help to the navy and coast guard in the rescue effort.
Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated on Monday, with electricity supply and transport services badly hit on land as the most powerful Arabian Sea cyclone in over two decades moved up the country’s western coast, making landfall in Gujarat after leaving a trail of destruction in Kerala, Karnataka, Goa and Maharashtra, and killing dozens of people.
According to deputy chief of naval staff, vice admiral Murlidhar Sadashiv Pawar, the barge sank at 7pm on Monday in choppy waters and rough weather.
The navy received SOS calls from P305 on Monday morning. Warships INS Kochi, INS Kolkata, INS Beas, INS Betwa, INS Teg, P8I maritime surveillance aircraft, Chetak, ALH & Sea King helicopters are involved in the operation.
“INS Kochi which entered Mumbai harbour on Wednesday to disembark 125 survivors and mortal remains of four crew members, was immediately sailed out in the evening again to continue the search effort,” the navy said.
On completion of its operations off the Gujarat coast, INS Talwar has also been diverted to join other three naval ships searching for the missing crew of barge P305 off Mumbai. INS Talwar assisted in securing SS-3 and Sagar Bhushan, which were now being safely towed back to Mumbai by ONGC support vessels, the navy said.
The navy also rescued two crew members of a tugboat, Varprada. They were picked up by INS Kolkata on Monday while it was on its way to join rescue efforts at P305. The two people informed naval officers that they were part of the crew of a tugboat that went missing along with 11 other crew members. It wasn’t immediately clear if this was the same tugboat that was being used to secure the barge named Gal Constructor.
“No one would have had survived if not for the help that came... We are thankful they saved our lives,” a survivor told news agency ANI
Another survivor said he jumped into the sea with his life jacket and was later picked up by the navy. “We saw our ship sink and several people on the deck were falling into the sea. [We] spent more than 10 hours in stormy water when the Navy rescued 12 people out of our group of 14 on Tuesday morning. Two are still missing,” said 22-year-old Sunil Kumar Madhesia, who worked as a helper on the barge.