Mumbai: The death toll on barge P305 which sank during Cyclone Tauktae fury rose to 86 on Monday with identifying 16 more bodies washing ashore in Maharashtra and Gujarat.
With this, all 274 personnel who were on board barge P305 that sank and the tugboat Varaprada that went adrift during Cyclone Tauktae fury have been accounted for, the Navy said.
"A total of 274 crew were reported missing on May 17 (261 from Barge P305 and 13 from Tug Varaprada). While 186 survivors from P305 and two from Varaprada were picked up at sea, 70 mortal remains (bodies) were recovered at sea by ships of Indian Navy and Coast Guard," a Navy spokesperson said.
"Eight bodies have been recovered along the coast in Raigad district of Maharashtra and another eight bodies washed ashore the Gujarat coast near Valsad," he said.
Thus all the 274 crew (261 on board P305 and 13 on board Varaprada) have been accounted for, he said.
The final confirmation will be pending till the identification of all the bodies recovered is completed, he added.
Seven Keralites dead
The number of Keralites who lost their lives in the Mumbai barge capsize rose to seven as the officials confirmed one more death on Sunday. The deceased was identified as Saneesh Joseph, 35, of Chemperi Valiyaparambu Thanikkal in Kannur district.
The mortal remains of Saneesh was brought to his home on Sunday evening and the last rites were held at Lourdes Matha Forane Church in Chemperi.
One more Keralite is reportedly missing in the accident. He is identified as Vivek Surendran of Adoor Pazhakulam in Pathanamthitta district.
The other Keralites killed in the tragedy are Arjun (38, Thrissur), Antony Edwin (27, Kollam), Sumesh (31), Jomish Joseph (35, Wayanad), Suresh Krishnan (Palakkad) and Sasin Ismail (29, Kottayam).
Wreckage of P305, tugboat Varaprada located
Meanwhile, INS Makar, a Navy survey catamaran equipped with side scan sonars, located the wreckage of P305 and tugboat Varaprada in the vicinity of where it sank on May 17.
The Navy had also deployed specialised diving teams to boost the search and rescue (SAR) operations. The SAR operations haven't been call off yet, the spokesperson told PTI.
The relatives of the victims will try to identify the deceased with the help of the belongings found on their bodies, like clothes, identity cards, batch number or birth marks, previous injury marks or tattoos.
In case the bodies are not identified, DNA tests would be conducted, another official said.
All the 440 persons on barges Gal Constructor and Support Station 3 (SS-3) and drillship Sagar Bhushan were brought ashore to safety recently.
(With PTI inputs)
