MUMBAI: A massive rescue operation is on over the Arabian Sea. Barge ‘P305’, which had been impacted by cyclone Tauktae, was officially declared ‘sunk’ on Tuesday morning near the Bombay High off-shore oil rigs.
Till 7:30 am on Tuesday, 146 of the 273, who were on board the barge, were rescued.
The sunk barge ‘P305’ was used as an accommodation base mid-sea for the workers on the project. The rescue operations that started around 1 pm on Monday continued through the night.
The Navy on Tuesday launched the maritime reconnaissance plane, the Boeing P8I. It has sensors to pick up the smallest of objects at sea and relay in real time to warships in rescue effort.
Indian Navy launched its Seaking42 Helicopters around 8 am for an on-the-spot assessment.
The copters are fitted with sensors and can land on deck of the warships already at sea.
Due to the cyclone, conditions at sea are still “extremely risky” Warships INS Kochi and INS Kolkata are at the site carrying out the rescue. Offshore Support Vessel Energy Star and Great Ship Ahalya have joined the effort.
The ill-fated barge ‘P305’ at Bombay High was deployed by a consortium-led by Afcons Infrastructure Ltd, a part of the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, to undertake a contract for the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC).
Apart from this, rescue operation are also looking to save lives on board two separate barges and a drilling ship, which are adrift at separate locations in the Arabian Sea.
These three are collectively carrying 435 persons on board.
Indian Navy warship INS Talwar is proceeding to render assistance to a drill ship Sagar Bhushan of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) that has 101 personnel onboard and an accommodation barge SS-3 with 196 personnel onboard.
“Both are adrift and presently located about 90 kms south-east of the of Pipavav Port in Gujarat,” Navy Spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal said.
The barge ‘Gal Constructor’ with 137 persons onboard has run aground about 90 kms north of ‘Colaba Point’ Mumbai. An emergency towing vessel ‘Water Lily’, two support vessels and Coast Guard Ship Samrat are in vicinity for rendering assistance and evacuation of crew.
Meanwhile, the ONGC issued a statement in the wee hours on Tuesday saying wind speed rose to nearly 150-180 Km/hr with six to eight meters high waves when the barge and the drill ships were hit.
ONGC was taking all possible measures in coordination with ODAG (Offshore Defence Advisory Group) and MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre) to ensure the safety of personnel and vessels, it said.