Kalpetta/Mumbai: Five Keralites lost their lives in the Mumbai Barge P-305 accident which took place on Monday.
The death toll on barge P305 that sank in the Arabian Sea five days ago rose to 60 on Friday with the recovery of 11 more bodies even as the Navy and the Coast Guard continued the search for the 15 personnel missing from the barge and 11 from anchor boat Varaprada.
The body of Sumesh, 31, from Muppainad Vaduvanchal in Wayanad district was among those identified on Friday. He is the son of Velleri Sudhakaran from Vaduvanchal region in Wayanad. He was an employee at the Delhi Boasted Control and Electricals company.
Bodies of Thrissur native Arjun and Sakthikulangara native Antony Edwin were also identified on Friday. Antony Edwin was employee of a private firm.
Kalpetta native Jomish Joseph, 34 and Kottayam Chirakadava native Sasin Ismail are the other Keralites who lost their lives.
Hopes of finding more survivors of the Cyclone Tauktae fury have receded, an official said.
Of the 261 personnel who were on barge P305 that sankon Monday, 186 have been recovered so far. Of the 13 persons on Varaprada, two have been rescued while the search for the remaining 11 is on.
While all the 440 persons on barges Gal Constructor and Support Station 3 (SS-3) and drillship Sagar Bhushan were brought to safety, Naval and Coast Guard vessels and aircraft scoured the waters off the Mumbai coast as the search and rescue operations entered the fifth day on Friday.
Mumbai police have announced they will conduct a probeas to why the ill-fated barge remained in the turbulent areadespite warnings about cyclone Tauktae, an official said.
The police have also registered accidental death reports in connection with the death of the personnel on the barge.
Afcons to pay Rs 35-75 lakh compensation
Afcons Infrastructure, whose chartered barge had sunk in the Arabian Sea due to a cyclone this week leaving at least 51 people dead, on Friday said it will provide compensation ranging from Rs 35-75 lakh to the families of the deceased personnel.
The chartered barge P-305 sank in the Arabian Sea near the ONGC oil wells in Bombay High due to cyclone Tauktae on Monday. There were 261 people on board and 51 of them are dead while 24 of them are yet to be traced.
"We will compensate families of each of the employees/ personnel who lost their lives in the tragedy equivalent to the balance service period of up to 10 years salaries through a combination of ex-gratia payouts and insurance compensation. This would in absolute terms range from a minimum of Rs 35 lakh and a maximum of Rs 75 lakh per family," an Afcons spokesperson told PTI.
The modalities of the payments are being worked out.
"While we can never compensate the loss of a loved one, but in this time of grief, we hope we can relieve the financial loss faced by the family members," the spokesperson said.
The ill-fated barge had 13 of its employees on board and so far 3 of them have been confirmed dead.
"It is our moral duty to support not only the families of the deceased persons on its direct rolls but also families of all deceased persons who were employed with our subcontractors," the spokesperson said, adding that the calamity arising from the fury of cyclone Tauktae was unprecedented and it shared the anguish of the affected families.
Afcons would also set up a trust to support the educational needs of the children of the deceased through scholarships. Further, trauma and grief counselling is being organised to help the families affected by the disaster.
ONGC announces cash relief
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) on Friday announced cash relief for families of the deceased and survivors of the private contractor-operated barge that sunk in the Arabian Sea after being battered by a severe cyclone.
ONGC said an immediate relief of Rs 1 lakh will be provided to the 186 survivors of the sunk barge and Rs 2 lakh for the dead and missing persons' families.
None of those on barge P-305 was ONGC employee. They were either employee of Afcons or hired by it for executing a contract it had got from ONGC.
"Cyclone Tauktae had hit the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mumbai in the early hours of May 17, 2021, where ONGC's major production installations and drilling rigs are located. Three construction barges of Afcons, working on a project of ONGC in Western Offshore fields in the Arabian Sea, and one floater drilling rig of ONGC were severely impacted in the cyclone," the firm said in a statement.
Caught in high-velocity winds and swelling sea, all the anchors of the Barge P-305 gave away, leading it to drift uncontrollably. It "hit an unmanned platform of ONGC resulting in water ingress and eventually capsized at around 1700 Hrs of 17 May 2021," the statement added.
The firm said it is now looking at rescue and rehabilitation tasks. "Our business partner Afcons, who was operating the affected barges, has been with us in this task. We are saddened by the events and express our deep sorrow at the loss of life and pay our tributes to the BNVs (Brave, Nature's Victims)".
The combined rescue and search efforts will be continued for a few more days, ONGC said, adding it hopes to save more lives.
"In this hour of grief, Afcons are working on the compensation for the affected crew, which will be operationalised soon," it said. "ONGC has also set up a helpdesk to extend help. ONGC will facilitate the dependent family members of the rescued crew in providing logistics and expenses."
(With PTI inputs.)
