AHMEDABAD: The Indian Navy mounted a massive air and sea rescue mission on Tuesday for 81 missing oil workers and crew whose barge sank in heavy seas following a powerful cyclone that tore up the west coast of the country a day earlier.
Around 180 of those on board the barge were rescued from the water as it sank off Mumbai. Efforts had started to move crew stuck on a second barge that was driven aground by the storm, the navy said.
“There are waves of 20 to 25 feet, the winds are high and the visibility is low,” said navy spokesman Vivek Madhwal. “Ships and have aircraft have been deployed for the search and rescue mission.”
Cyclone Tauktae, the most powerful storm to batter the west coast in two decades, ripped out power pylons, trees and caused house collapses killing at least 27 people, authorities said.
The storm made landfall in Gujarat state, piling up the pressure at a time when India is grappling with a staggering spike in coronavirus cases and deaths as well as a shortage of beds and oxygen in hospitals.
Winds up to 130 kilometres per hour smashed seafront windows and knocked over power lines and thousands of trees, blocking roads leading to affected areas, officials said.
“I have never experienced such intensity in my life,” a hotel owner in the town of Bhavnagar said.
“It was pitch dark as power was cut off and winds were making a roaring sound. It was scary.”
Elsewhere, seven fresh casualties took the toll to 27 including a child crushed by a collapsing wall, an 80-year-old woman killed by a falling pole and a teenage girl by a crumbling roof.
More than 16,500 houses were damaged, 40,000 trees were uprooted and 2,400 villages were without power.
“Since the cyclone made landfall we have not had power or communications,” local official Aayush Oak said by phone from the coastal district of Amreli, where 40-50 mobile phone towers were damaged. — Reuters/AFP
Around 180 of those on board the barge were rescued from the water as it sank off Mumbai. Efforts had started to move crew stuck on a second barge that was driven aground by
the storm
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
