Four days after the accommodation barge Papaa-305 sank amid Cyclone Tauktae off the Mumbai coast claiming at least 60 lives and seeing many more go missing, the Yellowgate police on Friday booked the Master of the barge and others for culpable homicide not amounting to murder.
The development came on a day the management of Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) announced a relief of `2 lakh to the families of each those killed in the mid-sea mishap and `1 lakh to those who survived the mishap. Simultaneously, M/s Afcons Infrastructure Ltd. (AIL) is working on the compensation for the affected crew, which will be operationalized soon.
Acting on a complaint lodged by the Barge chief engineer Rahman H. Shaikh who was among the survivors rescued by the Indian Navy earlier this week, the Yellowgate Police Station filed a First Information Report invoking charges of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against the Master of the Barge Papaa-305 and others.
The police registered under Sections 304(II) (an act done with knowledge that it is likely to cause death), 338 (causing grievous hurt by an act endangering life or personal safety of others) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
Confirming the development, Mumbai Police Spokesperson and Deputy Commissioner of Police S. Chaitanya said: “The captain of the barge acted negligently on the warnings issued related to Cyclone Tautkee and that allegedly led to the mishap due to which we have registered an offence. We have so far mentioned the barge’s captain and others in the FIR. On the basis of the findings of the investigation, we will book more officials.”
Meanwhile, the toll in the mid-sea mishap involving the accommodation barge Papaa-305 went up to 60 as eleven more bodies were recovered by the Indian Navy on Friday. Another 15 oil workers are still missing.
“Sixty mortal remains were recovered from under the sea. Search and Rescue operations for remaining others are continuing. There are in all 188 survivors – 186 from Papaa-305 and two from tug Varaprada,” Defence spokesperson Mehul Karnik 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, in a statement issued here, the ONGC said that three construction barges of M/s Afcons working on its Western Offshore field project in the Arabian Sea and one floater drilling rig of ONGC had been severely impacted in the cyclone Tauktae that had hit Arabian Sea off the Mumbai coast on Monday.
After all its anchors gave way Barge Papaa-305 started drifting and hit an unmanned platform of ONGC resulting in water ingress and eventually capsized at around 1700 Hrs of Monday.
“ONGC along with Indian Navy and Coast Guard immediately swung into rescue operations. ONGC Indian Navy along with Coast Guard and ONGC are continuing with extensive search and rescue operations. ONGC pays its gratitude to all those who helped fight the calamity,” the ONGC said in its statement.
“During this fight against ferocity of nature, employees on board displayed exemplary courage and continued their efforts to steer barges and rig to safety with beaten down functionality,” the statement said.
“At this hour, we are looking at rescue and rehabilitation task. Our business partner Afcons who was operating the affected barges has been with us in this task. We are saddened by the events and express our deep sorrow at the loss of life and pay our tributes to the BNVs (Brave, Nature’s Victims). The combined rescue and search efforts will be continued for few more days and we hope that it will help us save more lives,” the statement said.
“In this hour of grief, M/s Afcons are working on the compensation for the affected crew, which will be operationalized soon. ONGC management has decided to extend an immediate relief of Rs.1 lakh to the survivors and Rs.2 lakh for the BNVs and missing persons’ families,” the ONGC statement added.