Around 96 people are missing, while 339 have been rescued so far in the ongoing rescue operation after two barges went adrift in the Arabian Sea near Mumbai hours before Cyclone Tauktae made landfall on the Gujarat coast, an official said on Tuesday. All 137 personnel onboard Barge Gal Constructor have been rescued, 177 of the 273 onboard Barge P305, which sunk into the Arabian sea, have been rescued so far, the official said.
Navy vessels, helicopters, tug boats, and rescue ships were pressed into service to evacuate over 500 people stuck on different barges after the extremely severe storm hit the Gujarat coast. Barge P305 went adrift off the Heera oil fields in the Bombay High area on Monday with 273 persons onboard.
INS Kochi and INS Kolkata, along with Offshore Support Vessels (OSV) Greatship Ahilya and Ocean Energy, were continuing the rescue operations in extremely challenging sea conditions, a Navy spokesperson said.
“Two Coast Guard Chetak helicopters operating from the Coast Guard Air station in Daman rescued personnel on board the GAL Constructor. One more Chetak helicopter was also pressed into service for the SAR operations,” he said.
State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) had on Monday said barge P305 with 261 personnel deployed for offshore drilling got de-anchored and began drifting because of the cyclonic storm Tauktae. A barge is a long flat-bottomed boat either under its power or towed by another. An accommodation barge is of shallow draft (vessel whose keel is not far below the waterline) and is used to accommodate personnel on projects where shore accommodation is not available.
