Cyclone Tauktae: Missing Sea Vessel Barge P305 Located, 66 Bodies Recovered

TIL Desk/National/Mumbai/ As many as 186 crew members of Barge P305 have been rescued while 66 bodies have been recovered by the Navy as of Saturday, officials said adding that search operations are underway to trace the missing nine members.

Barge P-305, which housed personnel engaged in maintenance work of an offshore oil drilling platform of state-run oil and gas major ONGC, sank on Monday evening off the Mumbai coast when cyclone Tauktae swept across the state while hurtling towards Gujarat.

The barge had gone adrift in the cyclone fury before sinking. Along with the barge another vessel, a tugboat named Varaprada, also sunk. At the moment 11 members on board Varaprada are missing and two have been rescued.

Navy personnel recovered many semi decomposed bodies of crew members of both the vessels, and the mortal remains have been sent to forensic labs for identification, officials said. Barge P305 was located on the seabed after systematic search by INS Makar employing advanced side scan sonar while search for the missing personnel will continue through the night, an official said.