The Capsized barge P-305

Sometime in the middle of May 2021 most of India knew about a severe cyclone named 'Tauktae' headed for the western coastal region near the city of Mumbai (earlier known as Bombay).

Now, we live in the city of Nagpur about 1000 kms from Mumbai. Nagpur is a landlocked city for your information. So I was amused to see my dad putting away the cushions from the couch in the balcony, because hey there was no way the cyclone was coming anywhere near us. The point I am trying to make is that even though we were atleast a 1000 kms away from the sea, my dad thought it fit to remove the cushions in case of any rainstorm or such event triggered by the cyclone.

The warnings continued for several days (thanks to technology) and it was assumed that abundant precautionary measures had been taken by all those folks who were in harm's way - now i am talking of Oil Rig personnel living on barges and such. So when the cyclone finally struck with all its might, it was shocking to learn that a barge with oil rig personnel onboard had capsized. Tragically over 61 crew members lost their lives in this accident which could have been averted.

FYI a barge is like a floating building on the sea, it does not have a motor and is usually moved/transported by a tugboat.

First some basic info: The accomodation barge is operated by a contractor hired by ONGC (Oil and Natural Gas Corporation of India) for its Mumbai High Off shore work. It housed 261 crew members and was anchored near the drilling platform of the ONGC oil field in high sea. Tragically of the 24 life rafts on the barge, only 1 was usable as the others had holes in them!

Not trying to rake up a controversy but here are some of the questions that come to mind:

(1) Why was the Barge not tugged away despite all the alerts that had been sounded out for days before the cyclone?

(2) When most other barges had been tugged away, why was the captain of this barge not inclined to get out of harm's way?

(3) What are the terms of the contract between ONGC and the contractor especially as it relates to worker safety, safety training, safety equipment (life rafts, etc.) off-days in case of storms/cyclones, etc?

(4) Who is the person directly responsible for checking the on-board safety equipment like fire extinguishers, life-rafts, etc?

It's December 2021 now and not much has come out in followup except that the families of the victims have been given a lot of money as compensation. Not a peep about enquiry into the accident or holding folks responsible or action taken in light of the accident.

I am attaching a bone-chilling survivor account that was published in the Indian Express newspaper (have converted to a pdf in case the link from the newspaper does not work). Please do read, it will certainly remind you of the movie "Cast Away" starring Tom Hanks.

Indian_Express_Survivor_Account.pdf

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