Barge tragedy: Kin identify bodies, some wait for missing family members

Thirty-five-year-old Satyendra Singh, a resident of Devaria district in Uttar Pradesh, survived Cyclone Tauktae — the most powerful storm to hit the west coast in more than two decades that packed sustained winds of up to 210km per hour and nine- to 10-metre-high waves

Thirty-five-year-old Satyendra Singh, a resident of Devaria district in Uttar Pradesh, survived Cyclone Tauktae — the most powerful storm to hit the west coast in more than two decades that packed sustained winds of up to 210km per hour and nine- to 10-metre-high waves. Singh and two of his cousins reached to the safety of Mumbai port in nick of time, but on Thursday he learnt that his elder brother, Upendra, who was working as a rigger on the ill-fated barge Papaa305 (P305), died.

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Singh and his two cousins were on another barge —Trinity Nissi — deployed in the same area in the Arabian Sea before Cyclone Tauktae hit Mumbai coast. Their barge left high sea in the evening of May 14 as they received warning for the cyclone and reached Mumbai coast the next morning. He, however, wandered as to why P305 chose to remain where it was and expose the 261 crew members to the vagaries of the storm. Singh was angry at his brother’s employer for failing to bring barge P305 back to the harbour.

“There were around 250 people on barge Trinity Nissi who had to wait till 9pm on May 19. Later we were allowed to go from Barge. After coming out from the ship, I heard my brother is missing and P305 has sunk and several people died. I inquired with the company who hired us and came to Sir JJ Hospital, identified the body,” he said. He added, “He was everything to me. We lost the main person of the family.”

Upendra has three children — two daughters aged 12 and 3 years and a 5-year-old son.

Ajay Singh, a 39-year-old from Ajagara village, Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, who was working on Barge P305 since a few months is among those missing. His distant relative JP Singh, who resides in Koperkhairane, said, “I got a call from the family after the company informed them about the incident and asked them to come to Mumbai to identify Ajay. We were shown few bodies and photos at Sir JJ Hospital but I could not identify Ajay, as I had not seen him in the past 20 years. Last I saw him was at his wedding. We informed Ajay’s father and are now waiting for the family to come from their hometown.”

Ajay, who is listed as a missing person, has two kids — a son studying in Class 10 and a daughter studying in Class 7. He is the only earning member of the family.

Arjun Pandey, 29, is another person listed as missing. Pandey, a resident of Gopalganj in Bihar, worked on barge P305 since January this year. “He came to Mumbai on January 10 and stayed at his brother-in-law’s house in Navi Mumbai. He went to work on the ship in the last week of January through a company which provides manpower to these ships,” said his cousin Prince who has been waiting at the hospital to identify the body since morning, without eating anything.

Prince said, “Arjun last called his wife, who is expecting, on May 17 around 7am. He informed her about the condition on the ship. We got no news of him since. He is the only earning member of the family.”

Prince had visited the Nerul office of the company Pandey worked at to check the list of survivors, but as he could not find his name there, he came to identify the body at Sir JJ Hospital on Thursday. “We were asked to reach JJ hospital to identify the bodies. But so far we have not found him,” he said.

Prince, in tears, said the family has been calling him every hour but he is yet to inform them about Pandey.

Meanwhile, the body of 44-year-old Nilesh Pitale, a fire safety officer of barge P305, was identified by his younger brother Vishwanath at the hospital, but he and his relatives claimed they will not accept the body till the company assured them of compensation. “Pitale was the only earning member in the house. Both his father and mother are heart patients. He has a 17-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son,” said his cousin Dinesh Madhukunta, adding, “We have not informed parents till now and his wife.”

“The cyclone alert was given, so why was the barge not sent to Mumbai coast? Who will take care of the families of the people who died? It is a complete failure of the company due to which many people lost their lives,” said Madhukunta.

Of the 49 bodies recovered from P305, 26 have arrived at Sir JJ Hospital. Among them, 16 have been identified by their family members, relatives and colleagues, said an officer from Yellow Gate police station. So far, only one body has been handed over to the family.

Most of the people are from outside the state, so the hospital has been conducting Covid tests of the deceased so as to ensure there will be no hurdle while traveling from Mumbai to another state, said the officer.