Barge Tragedy: Navy Teams Conduct Underwater Search For Bodies

Rescue personnel had recovered 70 bodies, believed to be of P-305 personnel, in the sea till Sunday.

Navy ships INS Makar and INS Tarasa on Monday carried out diving operations 35 nautical miles from Mumbai coast to locate the bodies of missing personnel on board tugboat Varaprada, a week after it went adrift in the Arabian Sea, an official said. "The Specialist Clearance Diving Team of the Western Naval Command conducted the diving operations over the wreck of Tug Varaprada today. The diving was carried out from INS Makar and INS Tarasa at a depth of 32 metres in nil visibility conditions at a distance of 35 nautical miles from Mumbai harbour," a Navy spokesperson said. Specialised surface supply diving equipment, underwater search equipment, hand held Sonar (sound navigation and ranging, a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect objects on or under the surface of water) and underwater lights were used during the dive operations, he said. "No mortal remains were located underwater," the spokesperson said.