Tug boat that sank in Mumbai High was unfit for voyage: Survivor

Yellow Gate police have said that Glory Shipmanagment – the owner of the ill-fated tug boat Varaprada that capsized during Cyclone Tauktae on May 17 – had not carried out the required maintenance and repairing work, which resulted in the loss of 11 lives

Yellow Gate police have said that Glory Shipmanagment – the owner of the ill-fated tug boat Varaprada that capsized during Cyclone Tauktae on May 17 – had not carried out the required maintenance and repairing work, which resulted in the loss of 11 lives.

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The police have registered a first information report (FIR) against the owner of the tugboat on the basis of a complaint lodged by second engineer Francis K Simon, one of the two survivors of the incident.

Speaking to HT, Simon claimed that due to poor maintenance, the boat was not seaworthy and had lost its stability on the fateful night and sank, leading to the deaths of 11 of 13 people on board. The owners were well aware of the boat’s defective condition, he alleged.

The police on Thursday night registered an offence under sections 304 (2) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code against Glory Shipmanagment Pvt Ltd, its managing director Rajesh Kumar Shahi and other unknown accused. Shahi said, “These are is baseless allegations. The vessel was certified by multiple government agencies such as Indian Register of Shipping, ONGC safety audit, Mercantile Marine Department, marine warranty surveyors etc. After their approval, the vessel was sent to ONGC field.”

The police visited Simon’s home in Kerala and recorded his statement on Wednesday. He told the police that the tugboat was 34 years old, and it required substantial repairs and maintenance work. But the owner of the boat had allegedly ignored it.

“We raised issues related to every defect of the vessel through emails to the owner firm and informed it about the urgent requirement for FSA (formal safety assessment) inspections. A detailed email about the need for urgent repair work of the defects was also sent to the company through the boat’s captain in first week of April, but they did not take cognisance of it,” said Simon.

There were several repair and maintenance works on the boat, ranging from welding and painting work, repairing of machines and other parts, which were pending since long, he alleged.

“As the rubber packing of the door frame of the engine room was not fixed, the door frame of the exit and steering rooms also had holes and rust and were not watertight. The engine room and steering compartment were flooded with sea water. The crew had to manually throw water out, but due to tidal waves, the two rooms got flooded in no time and the boat lost stability. The boat got tilted at the left side and ultimately sank,” Simon stated in the FIR, of which HT has a copy.

“Because of the poor maintenance, the stability of the vessel got compromised and it sank. The company was well aware that the boat was not seaworthy, yet they put it on operation. They showed that the boat is seaworthy only on paper and didn’t carry out actual maintenance,” said the 50-year-old, who held charge as chief engineer of the boat.

“Our (boat’s) FSA inspection was due on April 30. A 15-day extension was granted, and two days after expiry of this period, the boat met a tragic end. This is extreme level of ignorance. They did not bother about workers’ lives and also underestimated the power of the cyclone,” said Simon.

The FIR stated that the company did not appoint a chief engineer for the tugboat and it was a violation of rules of directorate general of shipping and was also a safety threat. The boat’s renovation survey was not done for five years and the skeleton of the boat or the main part was badly rusted and had many holes. The tugboat’s proper maintenance was also not done as per the rules and standards of Indian Flag and Indian Registered Ship, Simon said in his statement.

“Though the boat was 34 years old, it delivers good performance if maintained properly. Age is no factor, quality and regular maintenance are,” he said.

The police are in process of contacting the email service provider to retrieve the emails the boat’s captain (died in the incident) had sent to the company raising issues about the defects of the boats and urgent requirement of its repairing.

Suhah Hemade, senior inspector of Yellow Gate police station, said, “We have recorded the statements of the two survivors of Varaparada boat and will soon call the boat’s owner for questioning.”

On the night of May 16, Varaparada had successfully tugged an engineless accommodation barge, Gal Constructor, with 137 people on board. The barge was approximately 90 nautical miles away from the shore, near an ONGC platform. Varaparada tugged it safely to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).

After this, it came back near JNPT, but next day when the cyclone arrived, Varaparada’s anchor broke and it started drifting into the sea and later sank.

Beside Varaprada, on May 17, a barge named Papaa305 also sank near the Heera Oil Field in the Arabian Sea, killing 75 of the 261 crew members, after Cyclone Tauktae passed by the Mumbai Coast. The Navy and Coast Guard had rescued 186 people on board.

Yellow Gate police is investigating a case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder in connection with the Papaa305 incident. The master of the barge, who died in the incident, has been named an accused in the case.