Biswabrata Goswami
KRISHNAGAR, 23 MAY: Two persons from Nadia are reportedly still missing from Barge P-305 which sank 35 nautical miles from Mumbai amid rough seas due to the cyclone Tauktae six days ago. Till Tuesday evening, 183 survivors from the barge as well as all 137 persons on board another barge, the Gal Constructor, were rescued.
Naval ships INS Beas, Betwa and Teg joined INS Kochi and Kolkata in search and rescue operations (SAR) for Barge P-305, which went adrift off Heera oil fields in the Bombay High area on Monday with 273 onboard, a Navy spokesperson said. “SAR has also been augmented with a P-8I aircraft and naval helicopters,” he stated.
Sreebas Ghosh of Jahaginpur and Sajal Biswas of Tehatta in Nadia are still missing according to the versions of their family members. The both were working under ONGC project.


The latest report came from the ministry that eleven more bodies were recovered from the sunken Barge P305 off Mumbai coast, taking the death toll to 60. Fifteen persons are still missing six days after the incident.
“From Barge P305, there are 186 survivors and 60 bodies have been recovered. Navy is coordinating search and rescue operations with ships and aircraft for the missing,” the Navy said on Friday. An underwater search is planned by the Navy’s Survey ship for locating wrecks of Barge P305 and Tug Varaprada using specialised teams and equipment, the Navy added.
Accommodation Barge P305 with 261 persons on board sank 35 nautical miles off Mumbai on May 17 in cyclone Tauktae. Three construction barges of Afcons Infrastructure working on a project of Oil and Natural gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) and one drilling rig of the ONGC deployed for exploration in Bombay High off the coast of Mumbai were hit by the cyclone.