Navy rescues 180 from barge, search on for remaining 93

In a massive air and sea mission, the Indian Navy rescued 180 of the 273 crew members from sunken barge P305, which de-anchored from an oil rig in Bombay High into the Arabian Sea, hours before the “extremely severe” cyclone Tauktae made landfall on the Gujarat coast late on Monday

In a massive air and sea mission, the Indian Navy rescued 180 of the 273 crew members from sunken barge P305, which de-anchored from an oil rig in Bombay High into the Arabian Sea, hours before the “extremely severe” cyclone Tauktae made landfall on the Gujarat coast late on Monday. According to officials, search operations are going on for the remaining 93 workers of the accommodation barge that sank about 35 nautical miles off Mumbai.

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Tauktae, the most powerful storm to hit the region in more than two decades, packed sustained winds of up to 210km per hour when it came ashore in Gujarat. The barge was deployed at the Heera platform, the largest of the ONGC rigs in Bombay High, the largest oil and gas assets of the national energy major. Deputy chief of naval staff, vice admiral Murlidhar Sadashiv Pawar said the barge sank at 7pm on Monday in a very choppy sea. The subsequent search and rescue was one of the most challenging operations undertaken by the Navy in four decades, he said.

Indian Naval Ships (INS) Beas, Betwa and Teg have joined INS Kochi and INS Kolkata in the search and rescue (SAR) operations for the barge. The SAR had also been augmented with P-8I and naval helicopters, which held an aerial search and since the commencement of the SAR from May 17, 180 have been rescued so far, said commander Mehul Karnik, chief public relations officer, Western Naval Command. Karnik, however, clarified that helicopters cannot be used for aerial search at night and the search will continue by naval ships after ascertaining the distance and direction the survivors could have drifted into the sea. P305, according to some rescued workers, got disconnected from the rig around 10.15pm on Sunday and went adrift as Tauktae struck the Konkan coast. Survivors said water started entering the accommodation barge from Monday morning and they were forced to get out of their compartments and move to the deck of the barge.

From Monday afternoon, survivors started jumping from the barge, as it started sinking and since then they were waiting for the Navy to rescue them. A naval officer said that the extremely bad weather due to Tauktae had considerably delayed the SAR.

After getting an alert from the barge, Indian Navy sailed warships along with other assets for the ongoing SAR. A Seaking helicopter was sent in Tuesday morning from INS Shikra, Mumbai, to support rescue efforts. The SAR operation is also being carried out by warships INS Kochi and INS Kolkata with the help of other offshore support vessels (OSV) like Greatship Ahilya and Ocean Energy in extreme weather conditions and very rough seas. The SAR operation continued throughout Monday night and 111 people were rescued by INS Kochi and INS Kolkata, and 17 and 18 people were rescued respectively by Greatship Ahilya and by Ocean Energy till 6am on Tuesday, said Karnik. Thereafter, 34 more people from the barge were rescued and brought to INS Shikra in Mumbai by Tuesday evening, taking the total of rescued persons to 180. “Four of our Indian Naval Ships are on site and for last more than 20 hours, the naval staff have been battling to search and rescue as many people as they can through the dark night and in challenging weather conditions,” said Pawar.

Meanwhile, in another operation, an Indian Navy Seaking helicopter was launched to rescue crew members of GAL Constructor, another barge which ran aground north of Mumbai, near Satpati in Palghar district. The barge, with 137 persons on-board, was being brought to Mumbai, when it got off from the tug boat that was toeing it to Mumbai harbour on Sunday evening. The crew members tried to hold the barge in place by putting all its four anchors, but the cyclonic storm cut off the anchor, setting it adrift. All the 137 people on board the cargo barge GAL Constructor have been rescued. Search and rescue was also in progress off the coast of Gujarat for three vessels, namely Support Station 3, Great Ship Aditi and Drill Ship Sagar Bhushan, which were 15-20 nautical miles south-east off Pipapav on Gujarat coast. INS Talwar has arrived in the area and taken over the duties of “on-scene co-ordinator” for coordination of search and rescue efforts. The Western Naval Command said, it has in coordination with ONGC and director, general shipping, diverted five tugs to render assistance in the rescue operation. Great Ship Aditi and Support Station 3 have been able to drop anchor. Meanwhile, OSV’s Samudra Sevak and SV Cheel are connected to manoeuvre Sagar Bhushan, and the situation at present appears to be stable, said a naval officer. He added that even after passing of Tauktae, the sea continues to be extremely rough, posing a challenge to the ships and aircraft involved in the search and rescue operations.

The main operation pertained to search and rescue of the people from P305, said Pawar. As regards the operation along Gujarat coast, he said the main assistance required was to prevent the three vessels of southern coast of Saurashtra, off Pipvava, from running aground. He added that all the three vessels were safe presently and INS Talwar was on the site and four Tugs were also mobilised by ONGC and shipping corporation of India to insure that these ships don’t run aground.

He said the main challenge of course was weather itself and it was very severe cyclonic storm with the winds gusting to 80 to 90 nautical miles and wave heights of around 6 to 7m, incessant rain, zero visibility.