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Specialised diving teams onboard INSMakar with side scan sonar sailed out from Mumbai. (PTI Photo)
Barge P305 housed personnel engaged in maintenance work of an offshore oil drilling platform of state-run oil and gas major ONGC.
Specialised teams onboard INS Makar, searching for crew members of Barge P305 which sank off the Mumbai coast in Cyclone Taukate, completed the diving search operation on sunken wreck of the barge on Sunday. A total of 188 survivors, including two rescued from tugboat Varaprada, and mortal remains of 70 crew members have been recovered so far. There were 261 personnel on the barge and 13 persons on Varaprada. Barge P305 sank during the Cyclone Tauktae fury last Monday and was located on the seabed on Saturday.
After searching the barge, INS Makar proceeded to locate the wreck of tugboat Varaprada. The teams will conduct diving operations on Monday to locate 11 more people who were on the tugboat. Search and rescue operations (SAR) by ships and helicopters/aircraft will also continue in the area to locate the remaining crew of the sunken vessels.
Barge P305, 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 after it went adrift due to the high-speed winds and huge tidal waves caused by the extremely severe cyclone which brushed the Mumbai coast on its way to Gujarat.
The barge was located on the seabed following a systematic search by INS Makar, which employed advanced side scan sonar. The Navy also deployed specialised diving teams to boost the search and rescue operations.
Struggling to establish the identity of almost half the victims of the P305 barge tragedy, police initiated the process of conducting the DNA testing of the bodies, an official said on Saturday. The Navy had handed over the bodies recovered to the city police.
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