Missing For 6 Days, Barge P305 Located on Seabed by Indian Navy

Barge P305, which went adrift and sank in the Arabian Sea six days ago due to Cyclone Tauktae, has been located at the seabed after a systematic search by INS Makar employing advanced side-scan sonar.

Mumbai: Barge P305, which went adrift and sank in the Arabian Sea six days ago due to Cyclone Tauktae, was on Saturday located at the seabed after a systematic search by INS Makar employing advanced side-scan sonar. Efforts are still on to trace the remaining missing crew of the barge and tug boat Varaprada. Diving operations will resume tomorrow.

A total of 20 personnel, nine from barge P305 and 11 from tugboat Varaprada. As many as 43 bodies out of 61 victims of the P-305 barge tragedy have been identified so far and 41 bodies handed over to the relatives, Mumbai Police said today.

#CycloneTauktae#FLASH #Update
Barge P305 located at the seabed after systematic search by #INSMakar employing advanced #sidescansonar
Search efforts for remaining crews of P305 & Tug Varaprada continue.@DefenceMinIndia @SpokespersonMoD @shipmin_india @PetroleumMin @DDNewslive https://t.co/zx0DKOxC6W

— SpokespersonNavy (@indiannavy) May 22, 2021

Search For Missing Barge P305 Crew Continues

Barge P-305, state-run oil company ONGC’s offshore drilling platform, sank off Bombay High earlier this week when Cyclone Tauktae raged across Maharashtra to make landfall in Gujarat.

Of the 261 personnel who were on barge P305, the Indian Navy has so far rescued 188 survivors, while 66 bodies have been recovered till Saturday evening. The Navy has handed over 61 bodies of victims to the Mumbai police.

The Navy deployed specialised diving teams to boost the search and rescue operations (SAR) for the barge and the tugboat off the Mumbai coast. The SAR ops are continuing through the night. Underwater search from wrecks of barge P305 and tug Varapada using specialised teams and equipment is in progress, the official said in a statement.

While all the 440 persons on barges Gal Constructor and Support Station 3 (SS-3) and drillship Sagar Bhushan were brought ashore to safety, Naval and Coast Guard vessels and aircraft scoured the waters off the Mumbai coast as the search and rescue operations entered the sixth day on Saturday.

With Agency inputs