Twenty three more bodies of personnel on board the accommodation barge Papaa-305 – which sank amid Cyclone Tauktae off the Mumbai coast on Monday – were recovered by the Indian Navy on Thursday, taking the total number of mortal remains retrieved from under the Arabian Sea to 49.
There were conflicting statements as to the number of persons still missing from the five off-shore vessels – comprising three barges off the Mumbai coast, a drill ship of ONGC and an anchor-handling boat – which went either adrift or sank during the passage of Cyclone Tauktae towards Gujarat on Monday.
“From the accommodation barge Papaa-305, we have rescued 188 people. We have so far recovered 49 bodies. Twenty six persons are still missing,” Defence spokesperson Mehul Karnik said.
However the ONGC pegged the number of missing persons at 37. “There were 714 people on board five stranded vessels. Of them, 628 people were rescued by the Indian Navy, Coast Guard and ONGC vessels. Forty nine bodies have been recovered. As many as 37 persons are still missing. Of the missing, 26 are from barge Papaa-305 and 11 from Varaprada- Anchor handling boat GAL constructor,” an ONGC spokesperson said.
Indian Naval ships and aircraft are currently engaged in Search and Rescue (SAR) operations to locate the missing crew members of Accommodation Barge P-305, which sank on Monday, 35 nautical miles off Mumbai coast.
Ships INS Kochi, Kolkata, Beas, Betwa, Teg, P8I maritime surveillance aircraft, Chetak, ALH and Seaking helicopters are involved in the SAR operations, while INS Talwar has also been diverted to provide assistance in relief and rescue operations.
Meanwhile, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has lauded the efforts of the Armed Forces and the Indian Coast Guard for the ongoing search and rescue operations in areas affected due to Cyclone Tauktae.
Singh – who has been in constant touch with Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Karambir Singh, Chief of the Army Staff General M M Naravane, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria and Director General of the Indian Coast Guard Shri K Natarajan -- commended the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard for saving the lives of people stranded at sea.
The Defence Minister also hailed the Indian Army for deploying its columns in affected areas and the Indian Air Force for transporting personnel of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
Meanwhile, in a detailed statement issued on Thursday, the ONGC said: “When cyclone Tauktae stuck on Monday (May 17), there were 342 installations in the Western Offshore region of the Arabian Sea with 7,675 people. Out of these installations, 243 were fixed and 99 floating”.
The officials said that based on the weather warning, the ONGC activated its emergency response system and issued instructions to all installations to take action as per the standard operating procedure.
“At that time, there were in all 99 vessels. Of them, 94 remained safe. There were in all 6961 persons on board the vessels. Of the vessels, five remained stranded,” an ONGC spokesperson said.
While all 202 personnel were rescued from the Support station -3 construction vessel, all 101 personnel were rescued from ONGC’s Sagar Bhushan Drill ship.
All 137 personnel were rescued from the GAL construction barge. “From barge Papaa-305, 26 are missing, while 11 are missing from Varaprada- Anchor handling boat GAL constructor,” a statement issued by the ONGC said.
The AFCONS-led consortium, which is working closely with ONGC, Petroleum Ministry, Indian Navy, Coast Guard, and DG (Shipping) to coordinate the rescue efforts, attributed the loss of lives of personnel from barge Papaa-305 to “the sudden deterioration of weather (on May 17)” which left no time at all for any further action to be taken by the Master of the vessel.
“On 14th May itself, all our vessels were advised to secure their respective work locations and move to safe location at the earliest. Accordingly, all vessels and barges, including P305, commenced moving out of their work locations on 14th / 15th May,” the AFCONS statement said
“While the other barges moved to Mumbai Port / Mumbai Outer Anchorage / Anchorage close to Revandanda, the Master of P305 chose to move 200 meter away from the HT platform where the Barge P305 was working, and to remain at that location, deciding this as a safe location since the max predicted wind speed was only 40 Knots and his location was 120 NM away from the eye of the tropical storm,” the statement said.
“Unfortunately, the weather conditions deteriorated rapidly from the evening of 16th May 2021, reaching levels far worse than predicted on the 17th May 2021. The sudden deterioration of weather left no time at all for any further action to be taken by the Master of the vessel.” The statement said
“As per the normal marine protocol, as well as the specific charter agreement for P305, matters concerning vessel safety lie under the responsibility of the Owner / Barge Master, who is in the best position to decide on the appropriate course of action regarding vessel safety, as he has the necessary skill sets as well as the understanding of his vessel and its equipment, under the prevailing local conditions,” the statement added.