Yesterday the Afcons Barge P305 sank 60 km away from Mumbai. There were 261 crew in the ship. The rescue operation is being carried by Indian Navy. Till now 200 plus people have been saved and 4 INS are on site to rescue others too. In 36 hours Indian Navy has rescued 202 people.
This is one of the most challenging search & rescue ops I’ve seen in the last 4 decades. 4 INS are on site. Main ops pertains to searching & rescuing 261 people from Afcons Barge P305 which sank about 60km away from Mumbai yesterday: Deputy Chief of Naval Staff reported to Ani
Warships can take damage from a couple of missiles & still retain their combat capability but the sea doesn’t spare anyone. Sea is a good friend but equally a bitter enemy but our ships & crew are well trained & they’re up to facing any challenges: Deputy Chief of Naval Staff says to ani
COVID or no COVID our main aim is to rescue people from the sea. We’ve been fortunate that all our crews have received 2 shots of vaccine. “Zinda rahenge toh covid ka samna dobara karhege” this is our motto at the stage: Deputy Chief of Naval Staff Murlidhar Sadashiv Pawar.
ONGC had earlier de-anchored and started drifting but now stable
State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Monday said a barge with 261 of its personnel deployed for offshore drilling in Bombay High in the Arabian Sea got de-anchored and started drifting because of the cyclonic storm Tauktae.
However, all the 261 people on board barge P305 are accounted for at 1300 hrs and barge has also been “steadied”, an official spokesperson told PTI.
“Ahead of the cyclone, the barge was anchored at a safe distance but with the impact of the cyclone, it got de-anchored and drifted. However, it has been steadied again and is brought under control,” the spokesperson said.
Operations still now to rescue Barge P305
Chetak operating from Air Station Daman rescues 70 crew from stranded ship at sea off Satpati GAL Constructor Another Chetak Helicopter operating from Air Enclave Goa rescues 2 employees of Light House Authority from Vengrula Light House.
The Search & Rescue operations in extremely challenging sea conditions rescued a total of 146 persons from Barge P305 till 6 am. today, 111 by INS Kochi and INS Kolkata, 17 by Offshore Support Vessel Greatship Ahilya and 18 by OSV Ocean Energy.