Cyclone Tauktae: 49 dead on sunk barge, search on for 37 missing, over 600 ONGC staff rescued

The Navy and the Coast Guard have so far rescued more than 600 ONGC staff from the various barge since the cyclone storm Tauktae battered the region and caused massive destruction. 

New Delhi: The Navy and the Coast Guard on Thursday (May 20) recovered more dead bodies and continued their search for 37 other missing persons in connection with the death toll on the barge that sank in the Arabian Sea during the cyclonic storm Tauktae that battered the region.  Government sources said while 6,961 persons on 337 offshore wells, platforms and other oil and gas installations that dot the west coast stayed safe, five vessels encountered mechanical faults, putting to risk 714 personnel on board. Three barges and an anchor handling boat deployed by private contractor Afcons for a project it was doing for Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), and a drillship of a state-owned firm lost anchors and drifted away.