The Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard (ICG) discovered 4 extra our bodies of crew members of barge Papaa305 (P305), which capsized within the Arabian Sea hours after cyclone Tauktae hit the Mumbai coast on Might 17, on the seventh day of search and rescue (SAR) operation. The toll of the mishap has now touched 70. In the meantime the wreck of barge P305 was situated on the ocean mattress.
Barge P305, which was deployed at an unmanned platform in Heera oil fields, one of many largest ONGC rigs within the sea, sank about 40 nautical miles west off Mumbai. As Cyclone Tauktae hit the Mumbai coast, the barge received de-anchored on the evening of Might 16, and hit a platform whereas drifting within the tough sea. It sank round 7pm on Might 17 in uneven seas amid tough climate, which made search and rescue one of the vital difficult operations undertaken by the Navy in 4 a long time. Afcons Infrastructure, which leads the consortium that chartered the barge and employed its crew, mentioned 261 members on board and Indian Navy and ICG rescued 186 members and located 70 our bodies. A tugboat Varaprada carrying 13 crew members additionally capsized the identical day. Two of its members have been rescued by the Navy, whereas 11 are nonetheless lacking.
The companies claimed on Sunday they discovered 17 extra our bodies at totally different seashores in Raigad district, Palghar and Valsad at Gujarat. 4 of them have been discovered to be of the P305 crew. Officers mentioned seven our bodies have been recovered from Valsad, one from Daman at Gujarat, one from Arnala seashore in Palghar district and eight our bodies have been discovered at Alibag, Murud, Nagaon and Sasawne in Raigad district, Maharashtra.
A police group from Yellow Gate police station, together with these rescued from P305 and Varaprada, went to Valsad to determine the identities. “We’re co-ordinating with the native authorities in Raigad, Daman and Valsad to test if the our bodies are of any crew members of the cyclone-hit barges or different fishing boats. The group has additionally gone with rescued crew members for identifications,” mentioned Suhas Hemade, senior inspector, Yellow Gate police station.
A few of the our bodies are in decomposed situation and bloated so DNA checks are being performed to determine the id, mentioned an officer from the Yellow Gate police station.
“Barge P305 was situated on the seabed after systematic search by INS Maker using advance facet scan sonar. The diving began within the morning and managed to pinpoint the sunken wreck of P305 by specialised groups on board INS Maker and no our bodies have been discovered,” mentioned a Navy officer.
INS Maker is continuing to find the wreck of tug Varaprada and diving operation will likely be performed on Monday, added Navy officers. The search and rescue operation by naval and coast guard ships and helicopters will proceed within the space to find the remaining crew of the sunken vessels, mentioned the officer.
Thus far, 45 our bodies have been recognized in JJ hospital and 44 handed over to their respective households. A number of different recovered our bodies are in JJ hospital, however the police are securing DNA samples to determine their id for the households, mentioned a police officer.