19 May 2021 6:25 GMT Updated 19 May 2021 6:44 GMT in London
At least 80 offshore workers remain missing two days after disaster struck when Cyclone Tauktae slammed into Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)’s Mumbai High fields offshore India’s west coast.
Search and rescue operations continued overnight Tuesday and were ramped up again at daylight to look for the unaccounted-for personnel from Afcons’ barge Papaa 305 (P 305), which capsized and sank after being hit by Tauktae on Monday. We believe all personnel [were] safely evacuated before the vessel sank. Despite the extreme sea conditions, 182 members on board P 305 [have] been rescued so far by the Indian Navy and Coast Guard, said Afcons.
19 May 2021 13:15 GMT Updated 19 May 2021 13:15 GMT in London
Twenty-two offshore workers are confirmed dead as the search and rescue operation continues after a barge sank when Cyclone Tauktae hit Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC)’s Mumbai High fields offshore western India.
The Indian Navy and coast guard mounted the operation after the cyclone struck on Monday, although hopes are fading for the 51 personnel still missing from contractor Afcons’ Papaa 305 barge.
Rescue efforts have been supported by ONGC as well as joint venture partners Afcons and Halani-Tes-Nauvata, which were revamping unmanned platforms at Mumbai High when the storm hit.
The navy said that 188 of the 261 people on board the barge had been rescued by the middle of this week.
Read more about Govt orders inquiry into ONGC western offshore mishap that took 26 lives on Business Standard. Questions are being raised why so many persons were still at sea despite forecast of Cyclone Tauktae; Company officials said other barges managed to reach safer location but cyclone changed its path