Met warning ignored, say experts on ONGC barge sinking

Mumbai Police has registered an ADR into the incident after the bodies were brought in

The warnings of impending Cyclone Tauktae was first relayed on May 11. However, there seems to have been an error in judgement on the part of the ONGC and other agencies like Afcons and Durmast Enterprises Limited, according to experts who wished to remain anonymous.

The cyclone passed over the Mumbai High offshore development area of the ONGC off the Maharashtra coast on May 17, as it moved from Goa to Gujarat – damaging Papaa-305, an accommodation barge near the Heera platform.

“If I may recall, the first warning came on May 11, and there were several days in hand to take a call and secure the barges, and if needed move out people,” said an expert in the strategic sector and aviation.

“I have never seen such a devastating cyclone along with the Mumbai and Maharashtra coast for the last several years,” he said, adding that the ONGC operations team at the site should have taken a call based on latest weather reports.

Also read: Blame-game starts over sinking of barge Papaa-305

“In fact, the Maharashtra government evacuated 13,000 plus people from the coastal Konkan region and moved them to safety,” said a disaster management expert.

Meanwhile, Chief Engineer Rehman Shaikh, told a newspaper that Papaa-305’s Captain Balwandir Singh ignored the warnings. “We received the cyclone warning a week before it hit. Many other vessels in the vicinity left. I told the captain that we must also leave for the harbour. But he told me that winds were not expected to be over 40 kmph and the cyclone would cross Mumbai in one or two hours. But in reality, the wind speed was more than 100 kmph. Five of our anchors broke. They couldn’t withstand the cyclone," Shaikh was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Also read: ONGC barge tragedy toll mounts to 49

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas announced that a high-level committee would be set up to enquire into the sequence of events that led to the stranding of the ONGC vessels.

The Yellow Gate police station in Mumbai, which has police jurisdiction over a huge region of Arabian Sea, has registered an ADR into the incident after the bodies were brought in.

The Mumbai Police will be speaking to various agencies and take the advice of the Directorate General of Shipping.