49 from barge still missing Navy continues search on 4th day

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    Mumbai, May 20 (PTI) With 49 people on board a barge
that sank in the Arabian Sea four days ago still missing,
Indian Navy ships worked through the night, using searchlights
to trace any movement in the pitch dark waters, as hopes of
finding more survivors began to recede on Thursday.
    The Navy on Thursday morning launched a fresh aerial
search and rescue mission, deploying helicopters to scour the
waters off Mumbai coast, where the accommodation barge P305
went adrift in Cyclone Tauktae fury before it sank Monday.
    As many as 26 personnel on board the barge are dead
and 49 still missing, after Navy personnel, battling extreme
weather, so far rescued 186 of the 261 people who were on
board the barge P305 and two personnel from tugboat Varaprada.
    Naval ships INS Kochi on Wednesday morning and INS
Kolkata late Wednesday night brought the bodies of the "Brave
Nature's Victims" to Mumbai, the spokesperson told PTI.
    Chances of finding more survivors are looking bleak,
an official said.
    Mumbai police have announced they will conduct a probe
as to why the ill-fated barge remained in the turbulent area
despite warnings about cyclone Tauktae, an official said. They
registered an accidental death report (ADR) on Wednesday in
connection with the death of the personnel on the barge.
    "The Navy's Search and Rescue (SAR) operations entered
the fourth 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," a Navy
spokesperson said.
    Navy ships INS Kochi, INS Kolkata, INS Beas, INS
Betwa, INS Teg, P8I maritime surveillance aircraft, Chetak,
ALH and Seaking helicopters are involved in the SAR
operations, he said.
    Another Navy ship INS Talwar was the 'On Scene
Coordinator' off Gujarat coast and assisted Support Station 3
(SS-3) and Drill Ship Sagar Bhushan, which were being safely
towed back to Mumbai by ONGC support vessels, he said.
    Navy ships were deployed on Monday after the Navy was
informed that barge 'P305' had gone adrift off the Heera oil
fields in Bombay high area with 261 personnel on board. The
oil fields are around 70 km southwest of Mumbai. PTI VT
VT VT

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)