Three people were killed after they inhaled toxic gases inside a barge off the Mumbai coast, while one sailor was rescued by the Indian Coast Guard (ISG) personnel.
The Coast guard officials identified the deceased seamen identified as Mangesh Bhosale (27), Jayanta Chaudhary (23) and Kartik Son Koch (27). The bodies were sent to the government-run Sir JJ Hospital for post-mortem and subsequent handing over to the families.
The Coast Guard Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) at Mumbai received information at 2240 hrs on Friday that a Singaporean Bulk carrier ship MV THOR ENDEVOUR, anchored off Mumbai anchorage area had reported emergency onboard barge ORION II secured alongside the ship for unloading of Wheat cargo.
The information received was that there was some gas leakage in engine room and five crew members onboard the barge were in and unconscious condition. However, the vessel and the owner/ agent were not contactable to provide a clear picture.
Afterwards, the MRCC contacted owner and agent of ORION II, M/s Shreekishna Agencies for updates and confirmed that another barge SHANTA was preparing to tow ORION II to Mumbai.
Upon assessing the gravity of an unclear situation, the Coast Guard Ship C-154 was alerted and ordered to prepare for emergency sailing. Dy Commandant C Vijay Kumar, the Commanding Officer of ship sailed out and arrived on board the distressed barge ORION II at 0020hrs on Saturday,
On investigation, it was revealed that the level in "sludge tank' (tank for collecting the wet waste) had increased.
Around 2120hrs on Friday, one crew member had entered ballast tank for fitment of de-flooding pump and became unconscious due to the poisonous gases inside. Subsequently, another 4 crew members (including master) entered the compartment to evacuate the unconscious crew and all of them also became unconscious.
One among these five were safely evacuated by the remaining barge crew (total crew onboard were 9. The four members were trying to evacuate the remaining five unconscious crew members from ballast tank.
The Sludge (Ballast) tank is located three decks down in the barge and there is only a small hatch for entry on the top that too only one person can enter at a time.
"The midnight darkness and limited light on the barge added on to the gravity of situation. Coast Guard team undertook onsite assessment along with remaining crew and ascertained that out of the remaining four crew members in tank, three were apparently dead and one was floating in an unconscious state facing upwards, seemed to be partially breathing. The person, however, didn't respond to calls and no other movement was observed," Coast Guard Region (West) Commandant Sujeet Dwivedi said.
"The unconscious crew members recovered with special rope prepared by C-154 and safely pulled out. The rescued crew was identified as master of the barge," Commandant Diwedi said