Just a few days after P305 barge sank in the Arabian Sea, the Mumbai police filed an FIR against the captain of the barge and others due to ‘negligence’ which led to deaths and the sinking of the barge. According to the Indian Navy, at least 51 bodies have so far recovered with 27 barge personnel still missing.
Background
As many as 274 personnel were on board the P305 barge that was adrift the Arabian Sea. As the cyclone Tauktae intensified, the barge couldn’t fight back and sunk in the Arabian Sea. In the mishap, as many as 51 bodies have so far been recovered by the Navy while 186 members have been rescued. The National Coast guard are still up with the search and rescue mission of the 26-missing people.
Also read: Cyclone Tauktae: Indian Navy Deploys Warships; Coast Guards and Navy Rescues over 300 people
Details
On Friday, 21 May, the Mumbai Police filed an FIR against Captain Rakesh Ballav and others under IPC Sections 304 (2) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 338 (Causing grievous hurt by act endangering life) and 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) at the Yellow gate Police Station.
According to reports, the captain of the barge along with others have been booked for ‘negligence’ on the basis of complaint raised by barge engineer. The FIR states that the captain had prior information of the cyclone’s approaching and yet did not make any safety arrangements for the personnel on the board which led to the mishap.
The barge’s chief engineer Rahman Shaikh was quoted by the Times of India saying-
“I informed captain about the warnings but he did not pay heed. I also tried to communicate with the barge owner, but they asked us to continue working. The barge was never moved to a safer location, though PR companies hired by Afcons may claim it was.”
P305 Barge Chief Engineer Rahman Shaikh’s statement
According to Shaikh, every single person on board the barge could have been saved had the captain of the barge taken the warnings seriously. Shaikh sustained a knee injury after being rescued by the injury and was admitted to the Apollo Hospital in Tardeo.
Speaking with reporters Shaikh said that they had received the cyclone warning 1 week before it made a landfall. He also said that as other vessels in the vicinity started leaving, he told the captain that they must leave for the harbour.
However, the captain of the ship said that the winds will not get over 40 kmph and the cyclone will cross Mumbai in a couple of hours.
“In reality the wind speed was more than 100 kmph. Five of our anchors broke. They couldn’t withstand the cyclone,”
-he added.
Shaikh said how they could spot the rescue naval ships in the vicinity, but before it could reach them, the barge drifted away and hit an oil rig. Continuing further, Shaikh said that as the barge hit an oil rig, it suffered a big hole through which the water started coming in.
As there were winds blowing at high speed and the barge was slammed by rough waves, Shaikh said that no one tried to check 16 life rafts that were on the starboard side.
Barge wanted to remain anchored: Survivor makes similar claims
Another survivor from the sunk barge made similar claims on the captain’s negligence. The survivor said that after other barges in the vicinity started to move out of the cyclone’s trajectory due to the warning, the captain of the barge hardly moved the barge 200 meters from its original location in the Arabian Sea.
The survivor also said that the barge didn’t have much remaining work on the ONGC platform and instead of returning to shore safely, the captain wanted to anchor the barge close to the worksite.
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