714 people involved in adverse incidents due to Cyclone Tauktae, 628 rescued so far ANI | Updated: May 20, 2021 22:10 IST
New Delhi [India], May 20 (ANI): Over 710 people who were in barges and vessels off the Mumbai coast faced adverse incidents due to the impact of Cyclone Tauktae and 628 have been rescued so far, petroleum ministry sources said on Thursday.
The sources said P-305 construction barge, which was carrying 261 personnel, stayed near the platform where it was deployed. Its anchors gave away due to impact of cyclone, it started drifting, hit an unmanned platform and subsequently capsized.
The sources said that 186 personnel on the barge have been rescued, 49 bodies have been recovered and search is on for the remaining 26 crew members.
Faced with high-speed wind and swelling sea, the ill-fated barge Pappa-305, with 261 crew on board, 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.
A person, rescued from one of the three barges that adrifted after being smashed by the severe cyclone, said that while other barges started to move out of the path of the cyclone when they received warning, the Master of P-305 hardly moved 200 metres from its location near Heera oilfield in the Arabian Sea.
37 dead, 38 from barge still missing; Navy continues search
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MUMBAI, May 20, (BSS/PTI) – 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.
As many as 37 personnel on board the barge are dead and 38 still missing, after Navy personnel, battling extreme weather, so far rescued 186 of the 261 people who were on board the barge P305 and two personnel from tugboat Varaprada.