Cyclone Tauktae Fury: INS Makar Concludes Diving Ops on Barge P305 Wreck; 70 Dead, 188 Survivors, 16 Missing

While 70 are dead and 186 rescued so far, there is no trace yet of five personnel of the Barge. There is also no trace yet of 11 of the 13 personnel who were on board tugboat Varaprada, which also went adrift due to the cyclonic storm.

New Delhi: The death toll in the barge P305 tragedy has risen to 70 with the recovery of four more bodies, the Navy said today. Barge P305 sank off the Mumbai coast during the Cyclone Tauktae fury. Meanwhile, the specialised teams onboard INS Makar, involved in the search mission of Barge P305 crew members, concluded the rescue operations on the sunken wreck today. The sea tragedy was survived by 186 crew members of the Barge P305 while two were rescued from the tugboat Varaprada. The Barge had 261 personnel onboard while Varaprada had 13.

“Mortal remains of 70 people recovered from Barge P305, with 188 survivors. Diving on Barge P305 wreck completed by INS Makar & no bodies found. INS Makar to locate Tug Varaprada wreck tomorrow. Search& rescue to locate the remaining crew of sunken vessels to continue,” the Defence PRO said.

While 70 are dead and 186 rescued so far, there is no trace yet of five personnel of the Barge. There is also no trace yet of 11 of the 13 personnel who were on board tugboat Varaprada, which also went adrift due to the cyclonic storm.

Now, INS Makar will work on locating the wreck of tugboat Varaprada. The search operations will continue to locate the remaining 11 people on the tugboat.

The list of those missing may get a lot shorter if it is confirmed that the 14 bodies recovered along the Maharashtra and Gujarat coasts in the last few days are those of the barge and tugboat personnel, an official said. “Those found ashore are yet to be identified,” the official said. While eight bodies were recovered on the Raigad coast in Maharashtra, six were found on the Valsad coast in Gujarat.

The Navy also deployed specialised diving teams to boost the search and rescue (SAR) operations. While all the 440 persons on barges Gal Constructor and Support Station 3 (SS-3) and drillship Sagar Bhushan were brought ashore to safety recently, Naval and Coast Guard vessels and aircraft scoured the waters off the Mumbai coast as the search and rescue operations entered the seventh day on Sunday.