Cyclone Tauktae: Captain of barge that sank in the sea ignored weather warnings, says chief engineer

The chief engineer of the barge that sank in the Arabian sea as Cyclone Tauktae hit India’s west coast said everyone on the boat could have been saved, had the captain taken weather warnings seriously, The Indian Express reported on Thursday.

Thirty-six people on board barge P-305 are still missing, the Indian Navy said on Thursday morning. The Navy has so far rescued 188 people from the boat that went adrift in the sea before sinking on Monday. It had 261 people on board. Thirty-seven bodies have been recovered from the barge so far.

The Navy’s massive search and rescue effort, involving helicopters, ships and surveillance aircraft, entered the fourth day on Thursday.

Barge P-305 served as the accommodation for those working on the platforms and rigs of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.

“We received the cyclone warning a week before it hit,” Rahman Shaikh, the chief engineer, told The Indian Express. “Many other vessels in the vicinity left. I told the Captain, Balwinder Singh, that we must also leave for the harbour.”

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Shaikh added: “But he [the captain] told me that winds were not expected to be over 40 kmph [kilometres per hour] and the cyclone would cross…

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