Bodies of all missing found, toll 86: Navy

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, May 23

The bodies of all those who were reported missing after two mishaps in the Arabian Sea have been found and accounted for, the Navy said tonight.

Bodies of all 75 persons missing on board barge P305 and 11 missing from tug boat Varaprada have been found. The barge and the tug boat had sank on May 17 as cyclone Tauktae ravaged past India’s west-coast.

Navy spokesperson Commander Vivek Madhwal said 274 crew members (261 on barge P305 and 13 on Varaprada) were reported missing on May 17. Of them, 186 on board the barge and two on the tug boat were rescued.

Seventy bodies were recovered at the sea. Four more bodies were found today near the spot where the ill-fated barge P305 had sunk. Eight bodies had washed up along the coast in Raigarh district of Maharashtra and eight along the Gujarat coast near Valsad. Eighty-six persons were reported dead.

“All 274 crew members reported missing have been accounted for (188 survivors and 86 dead). A final confirmation will, however, be pending till the identification of all bodies is completed,” Commander Madhwal said.