A total of 180 men of the 273 on board another barge, ‘P305’, have been rescued so far
Ajay Banerjee
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, May 18
As many as 137 persons on board a barge ‘Gal Constructor’ got lucky as the vessel which was adrift in the Arabian sea ran aground near Wadrai beach – some 90 km north of Colaba Point Mumbai, late Monday night, allowing for their rescue.
With the weather still being very bad accompanied by high winds and rain, the Indian Coast Guard, on Tuesday morning, pressed in its helicopters to airlift these persons from ship to shore. Till 2 pm on Tuesday, 55 of the marooned crew had been airlifted to shore. The Coast guard was then joined in by the Navy which used the bigger Seaking42 copters which can lift up to 20 men in one sortie.
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At 5 pm the Ministry of Defence spokesperson A Bharat Bhushan Babu announced “All 137 crew rescued from ‘Gal Constructor’. No individual left. Rescue ops over for this vessel”.
Last night an emergency towing vessel ‘Water Lily’, two support vessels and Coast Guard Ship Samrat were in the vicinity of the Gal Constructor which was floating freely in high seas.
The vessel was among the two barges and one drill ship that had been adrift since Monday morning. There were 435 persons on board. Another barge ‘P035 sank near the offshore Bombay High oil rigs and separate rescue effort is on. A total of 180 men of the 273 on board the ‘P305’ have been rescued so far in collective effort by the Navy and the private marine vessels. Helicopters have been pressed into service to pick up those who are injured and transport to shore. The Barge P305 went down some 70 km west of Mumbai.
Apart from these two rescue sites, Indian Navy warship INS Talwar is proceeding to render assistance to a drill ship Sagar Bhushan of the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) that has 101 personnel on board and another accommodation barge SS-3 with 196 personnel on board. Both of are adrift and presently located about 90 km south-east of the Pipavav Port in Gujarat, Navy Spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal said Tuesday morning.