Cyclone Tauktae: 26 dead, 49 missing after barge sinks into Arabian Sea, toll reaches 45 in Gujarat

Workmen rescued from barge P305 narrated their horrifying experience in their quest for survival. Some said they had almost lost the hope of making it alive back home. "It was a horrific situation on the barge. I had not thought I would survive."

Mumbai: As many as 26 personnel on board accommodation barge P305 that went adrift in Cyclone Tauktae fury before sinking in the Arabian Sea off Mumbai coast are dead and 49 are still missing, as the Navy continued search and rescue operations through the night, an official said. The Navy said its personnel, battling extreme weather, have so far rescued 186 of the 261 people who were onboard barge P305 and also two from tugboat Varaprada. So far 26 bodies have been recovered and 49 people who were on the barge P305 which sank on Monday are missing. The Navy had so far maintained that there were 273 persons on board the barge but an official on Wednesday evening said that the company which operated it has informed that there were 261 personnel on board the ill-fated barge. "The Navy's Search and Rescue (SAR) operations off Mumbai and Gujarat entered its third day today. Naval ships and aircraft are presently undertaking SAR of the missing crew members of Accommodation Barge P-305, which sank on Monday 35 miles off Mumbai," the spokesperson said.