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Mumbai: A total of 14 bodies have been recovered in the Arabian Sea off Bombay High, where 93 crew members of ONGC’s Barge Papaa (P305) went missing after the vessel sank 35 nautical miles off Mumbai coast. Five ships of the Indian Navy, several Naval helicopters and the Indian Coast Guard were pressed into service to trace and rescue 93 crew members of the ONGC vessel. At least 177 members of the 273 personnel on board were rescued in a massive search operation by the Navy. Navy ships Beas, Betwa and Teg joined INS Kochi and Kolkata as the rescue operations intensified on Tuesday after Cyclone Tauktae made landfall in Gujarat, wreaking havoc across the western coast of India.
Meanwhile, another cargo barge ‘Gal Constructor’ with 137 people on board was rescued after it ran aground north of Mumbai. A total of 638 people who were aboard ships near Maharashtra and Gujarat had either been rescued or their vessel had been secured by late Tuesday evening.
Avinash Aadke, who was rescued from Gal Constructor, said the vessel was “out of control” for three days and help was being sought from the Coast Guard. But as the barge was anchored close to Alibag, the help was first redirected to other vessels.
9:45 PM: Four bodies have been handed over to Police & 4 different accidental death reports (ADR) have been registered at Yellow Gate Police Station, in connection to the deaths of Barge P305’s crew members. Indian Navy has confirmed 26 deaths so far: Mumbai Police
8:38 PM: Indian Navy continues to conduct search & rescue operation of missing crew members of Barge P305. (Earlier visuals) 26 bodies have been retrieved while 186 crew members have been rescued so far: Defence PRO
#WATCH | Indian Navy continues to conduct search & rescue operation of missing crew members of Barge P305. (Earlier visuals)
26 bodies have been retrieved while 186 crew members have been rescued so far: Defence PRO #CycloneTauktae pic.twitter.com/lBdXxygVXH
— ANI (@ANI) May 19, 2021
06:06 PM: MV Denali anchored off Tarapur (Maharashtra). All crew safe. MV Samarpan safe and adrift 19NM south of Diu. All crew safe. Both vessels being monitored by MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre), Mumbai: Indian Coast Guard
05:07 PM: Rs 2 lakh ex gratia for the next of kin of the dead and Rs 50,000 for the injured due to Cyclone Tauktae would be given to all those affected across India. PM also takes stock of COVID-19 situation in Gujarat: Prime Minister’s Office
5:05 PM: PM Modi announces financial assistance of Rs 1,000 crore for immediate relief activities in Gujarat. Union Government to deploy an Inter-Ministerial Team to visit the state to assess the extent of damage in the State: PMO
4:20 PM: Search operation is underway for 73 crew members of Barge P305. Our ships and aircrafts are making all possible efforts to rescue all of them: Indian Coast Guard Inspector General KR Suresh
4:03 PM: Gujarat: Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds a review meeting in Ahmedabad, to assess the situation and damage caused by #CycloneTauktae. CM Vijay Rupani also present among other officials.
3:34 PM: After cyclone Ockhi in 2017, India faced 15 cyclonic storms including #CycloneTauktae. A new standard operative procedure adopted by Coast Guard after Ockhi, resulted in no loss of life and property in 14 cyclonic storms: Indian Coast Guard Inspector General KR Suresh
3: 32 PM: PM Narendra Modi spoke to senior officials and took stock of the operations being undertaken to rescue personnel on the ONGC barge.
2.59 PM: 22 confirmed dead out of 75 missing from the barge sunk by the severe cyclonic storm Tauktae. Bodies have been fished out.
1.45 PM: INS Kochi, the warship had set sail from the city on Monday morning to rescue the workmen from P305 in the Heera oil drilling platform, brought back 125 rescuees from around 70 km off the coast to Mumbai.
#CycloneTauktae #Update#INSKochi entering Mumbai harbour today morning alongwith rescued personnel from Barge P305.
INS Teg, INS Betwa, INS Beas P8I aircraft & Seaking Helos continuing with Search & Rescue Ops.@indiannavy @SpokespersonMoD @DDNewslive @PIB_India @airnewsalerts pic.twitter.com/jkBY5DnJeI— PRO Defence Mumbai (@DefPROMumbai) May 19, 2021
1.15 PM: Ops can be challenging but our work is to ensure that we prepare for any contingency. We’ve been able to save another 300 lives at sea. Two other vessels were in distress, they were about to abandon ship and we assured them support, says Commodore Manoj Jha, who led rescue ops off Mumbai coast.
1.15 PM:
#WATCH | A crew member of Barge P305 breaks down while speaking of Indian Navy's rescue operations. He was rescued by INS Kochi and brought to Mumbai.
A total of 184 people have been rescued so far, search and rescue operations are still going on.#CycloneTauktae pic.twitter.com/7e8JU3zcT5
— ANI (@ANI) May 19, 2021
12.44 PM: 184 people have been rescued from the ONGC vessel so far. Search operations underway.
12.42 PM: 14 bodies have been recovered from the Arabian Sea off Bombay High where Barge P305 sank near the Mumbai coast.
ONGC/Afcons shared helpline numbers for the list of rescued personnel. They can be contacted for details on following numbers:
Narrating what happened to the state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) vessel, Narwad, a native of Haryana, said P-305 de-anchored in the wee hours of Monday morning and started drifting. It hit some object, resulting in a hole. At about 3 PM on Monday, the safety officer asked the crew to put on life jackets as water was gushing in.
As the vessel sank, they had no option but to jump. “I was in the water throughout the night,” injured Narwad narrated his ordeal, “The Navy saved us in the morning. I do not know how they located us,” he said.
The choppy sea made it a very tough job for the Navy to locate missing persons and shift then to a rescue vessel. According to reports, all crew members on board were wearing life jackets and the ones missing could still be floating in some part of the Arabian Sea.
“The subsequent search and rescue was one of the most challenging operations undertaken by the Navy in four decades… The main challenge is the weather itself. This is an extremely severe cyclonic storm with winds of 80-90 knots, wave heights of 6-8 metres, continuous rains, heavy clouding and almost zero visibility,” Vice Admiral Murlidhar Sadashiv Pawar said.
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