Strong sea waves close to the Gateway of India attributable to Cyclone Tauktae
The Indian Navy has rescued 146 individuals on board a barge that went adrift within the Arabia Sea close to Mumbai hours earlier than Cyclone Tauktae made landfall on the Gujarat coast, an official stated on Tuesday. The Navy on Tuesday morning additionally deployed the P-8I long-range, multimission maritime patrol plane to affix the search and rescue operations, the official stated.
“The Search and Rescue (SAR) operations continued throughout the night and a total of 146 persons from Barge P305 have been rescued till 6 am on Tuesday, 111 by INS Kochi and INS Kolkata, 17 by Offshore Support Vessel (OSV) Greatship Ahilya and 18 by OSV Ocean Energy whilst operating in extremely challenging sea conditions,” the official stated.
The barge ‘Gal Constructor’ with 137 individuals on board has run aground about 48 nautical miles north of Colaba Point. An Emergency Towing Vessel ‘Water Lily’, two help vessels and CGS Samrat are within the neighborhood for rendering help and evacuation of crew, a Navy spokesperson stated.
“INS Talwar is proceeding to assist another oil rig Sagar Bhushan with 101 personnel on board and an accommodation barge SS-3 with 196 personnel on board, both of which are adrift and presently located about 50 NM South East of Pipavav Port,” the spokesperson stated in an announcement.
“These ongoing rescue efforts have been augmented today morning by an Indian Naval P8I surveillance aircraft. Navy helicopters will also be deployed for SAR based on weather conditions. The SAR efforts will continue through the day with more naval assets ready to augment the ongoing operations,” he stated.
The Navy had on Monday deployed three frontline warships after receiving messages to rescue 410 individuals on board two barges off the Mumbai coast. The ships deployed to increase help to the 2 barges have been INS Kolkata, INS Kochi and INS Talwar.
“On receipt of a request for assistance for barge ‘P305’ adrift off Heera oil fields in Bombay high area with 273 personnel onboard, INS Kochi was swiftly sailed on Monday with a despatch for search and rescue assistance,” the Navy officer stated. The oil fields are round 70 km southwest of Mumbai.
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