Barge tragedy: 7 more bodies found on Valsad beach

The death toll on barge P305 and Tug Varapradha that sank in the Arabian sea during the cyclone rose to 70 on Sunday with the recovery of seven more bodies since Saturday night police said The bodies were found on Tithal beach in Valsad GujaratOn receiving the information from their Gujarat counterpart city personnel from Yellow Gate police station rushed to Valsad One of the deceased was wearing a life jacket After the deceased are identified the bodies will be handed over to their family Valsad itself a city police officer told middayMumbai police spokesperson Deputy Commissioner of Police Chaitnya S told midday ldquoA total of seven dead bodies were recovered at Valsad beach Out of that two bodies have been identifiedrdquo The bodies were found on Tithal beach and near the coast of Dungri talukaSuperintendent of Police Valsad Rajdeepsinh Jhala told midday that the two bodies identified were of Captain Nagendra Kumar of Tug Varapradha and Umed Singh Their families have been informed and work is underway to identify the other deceased people the SP saidAlso Read Barge Tragedy Mumbai Police to carry out DNA testing on unidentified bodiesA spokesperson for the Indian Navy said that the search and rescue operation on the sunken wreck of barge P305 is complete and no bodies were found Now diving teams onboard INS Makar will proceed to locate the wreck of Tug Varapradha The spokesperson added ldquoSearch and rescue operations by ships and helicoptersaircraft will continue in the area to find the remaining crew of the sunken vesselsrdquoNHRC takes suo motu note of barge tragedyThe National Human Rights Commission NHRC on Sunday issued notices to the Union Petroleum Ministry the ONGC chairman the director general of Indian Coast Guard and the director general of Shipping Mumbai in the wake of the barge tragedy In a statement it said ldquoAllegedly the loss of precious lives could have been avoided if all the involved agencies had followed standard safety regulations and protocols both before and during the buildup of the cyclonerdquoldquoThe NHRC has taken suo motu cognisance of a news article carried on May 22 raising serious concerns on the rights of various seafarers in India that have resurfaced in the wake of the reported worst offshore disaster in the countryrdquoThe commission has observed that it appears that the director general of Shipping ONGC authorities and the Coast Guard were ldquoaware that in the wake of Cyclone Tauktae there was a potential danger to the lives of the workers onboard a dumb barge but it seems that no effective steps were taken to bring the victims to safer places and they were left helpless This is a serious case of violation of the right to life of the victimsrdquoIt has sought a detailed report within six weeks The reports must include accurate data regarding persons onboard steps taken after receiving an alert about the cyclone persons missing persons rescued till date with their health status as well as the status of the rescue operation as on date it saidThe NHRC said it would also like to know about the status of the inquiry reportedly ordered in the matter the action taken against the responsible public servants and the relief granted to the next of kin of the deceased and to the injured workersThe NHRC is of the opinion that the ldquosafety of every seafarer must be valued and the institutional distortions and procedural dissonances if any and as mentioned in the news article must be set right to avoid such tragedies in futurerdquo