Captain of barge P-305 chose not to move vessel away from cyclone path : Survivor
P-305 probably had very little remaining work at the ONGC platform and wanted to remain anchored near the worksite rather than moving towards shore and return after a few days.
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As many as 37 personnel on board the barge are dead and 38 still missing, after Navy personnel, battling extreme weather. (Photo | AP) By PTI
NEW DELHI: Faced with high-speed wind and swelling sea, the ill-fated barge Pappa-305, with 261 crew onboard, lost anchors and smashed into an unmanned platform before sinking in the Arabian Sea after its captain ignored weather warnings and chose not to move the vessel away from the path of severe cyclonic storm Tauktae, a survivor recounted.
37 dead, 38 from barge still missing; Navy continues search
37 dead, 38 from barge still missing; Navy continues search
With 38 people on board a barge that sank in the Arabian Sea four days ago is still missing, Indian Navy ships worked through the night, using searchlights to trace any movement in the pitch dark waters, as hopes of finding more survivors began to recede on Thursday.
The Navy on Thursday morning launched a fresh aerial search and rescue mission, deploying helicopters to scour the waters off Mumbai coast, where the accommodation barge P305 went adrift in Cyclone Tauktae fury before it sank Monday.
Video: Navy s Searchlights Find Survivors Of Sunken Barge In The Dark Video: Navy s Searchlights Find Survivors Of Sunken Barge In The Dark Workmen rescued from the barge narrated their horrifying experience in their quest for survival before the Navy rescued them
Updated: May 19, 2021 10:44 pm IST
The Navy s ships and aircraft worked through the night to find survivors of the barge
Mumbai:
A dramatic video showed the Navy s searchlights zooming in on survivors in the sea as operations to rescue the crew of a barge that sank off the Mumbai coast during Cyclone Tauktae entered its third day.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Navy said its ships and aircraft participating in the search and rescue operations have so far saved 186 people, including two from a tugboat, Varapradha.
As the death toll in the barge tragedy in the Bombay High Fields rose to 49 on Thursday, it has now emerged that there could have been over 10,000 people in the path of the devastating Cyclone Tauktae as it whirled over to Gujarat on Monday.In .
Government sources said 7,675 persons were at 234 fixed and 99 floating oil and gas installations in the Arabian Sea before the cyclone made landfall on Monday night.