Out of those 50 ONGC workers 38 are still missing four days after the barge carrying 261 people sank 35 nautical miles off the Mumbai coast as Cyclone Tauktae hit the west coast.
The Navy is conducting its day and night long relief operation to rescue those missing. The operation is being carried out with many ships, P-81 reconnaissance aircraft and Sea King helicopters and also Coast Guard and ONGC vessels, to find the people sunk with the barge and other vessels stranded in the storm.
Out of all 186 people have been rescued so far and 37 bodies have been rescued from the sunken barge-305 which was one of three – the others were Gal Constructor and Support Station-3 – deployed by engineering firm Afcons for its ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation) contract.
The Gal Constructor, which ran around during the storm carrying 137 people had been completely rescued by Tuesday.
The 201 on board Support-Station 3, which was floating northwest in the Mumbai High oilfield, are accepted to be protected; the flatboat has been situated by INS Talwar and is currently being towed back to Mumbai harbor by ONGC support vehicles, reported PTI.
The Mumbai Police has ordered an investigation into barge P-305 staying in the high alert area despite cyclone warnings and the Directorate General of Shipping has also ordered an investigation into the casualties.
An Accidental Death Report (ADR) was also reported on the deaths of people stranded in the disaster.
ONGC’s oil driller Sagar Bhushan – which had 101 individuals on board when it lost its anchors in the cyclone and started to float north, has additionally been found and is being towed home, PTI reported.
The Thursday morning the Coast Guard said another missing pull – Sangeeta, with a team of 10 – had been situated around 10 nautical miles west of Maharashtra’s Tarapur. The Coast Guard discovered the boat and has given food, water and clinical help to the team, while it is being towed back.
Another relief operation includes Greatship Aditi – a seaward stock/pull that is battling 15-20 nautical miles southeast off Gujarat’s Pipavav.
Frightening stories are arising of individuals fighting the components to remain above water as the Navy fastens to discover them. Manoj Gite, 19, one of those on board barge P-305, expressed gratitude toward the Navy for saving their lives.
“It is because of the Navy that we all are alive and safe today, otherwise we don’t know what would have happened to us,” he said to PTI.
Another survivor Vikas Kumar who got injured when the barge was sinking said, “I jumped in the sea when the barge was sinking and injured my leg badly. I would have died if not for the Navy.”
Tauktae has been the most powerful storm in the Arabian sea since decades – that reached almost every Indian west coast causing landfall in Gujarat on Monday.
The deaths that have been reported are highest from Karnataka that stands at eight, six in Maharashtra and at least three in Gujarat. Tens of houses with electricity poles were damaged as well acres of crops.
