Mumbai: Owner of tugboat that sank during cyclone Tauktae booked for culpable homicide

A case of culpable homicide has been registered in Mumbai against the owner of Varaprada tugboat that sank in the Arabian Sea during last month's cyclone Tauktae, in which 11 persons were killed, an official said on Friday.

Barge P305 and Varaprada - both support vessels working for the state-run ONGC's offshore oilfields near Mumbai – had borne the brunt of cyclone Tauktae, which made landfall on Gujarat coast on May 17.

"At least 11 personnel, who were working on the tugboat, had died in the incident. During the rescue operation, two of its workmen were rescued by the Navy teams," the official said. An FIR under IPC section 304 (2) (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 34 (common intention) was registered against the tugboat owner on Thursday at the Yellow Gate police station on the complaint of chief engineer of the boat and one of survivors, he said.

Nobody has been arrested in this connection so far and the probe is underway, he added. 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. Besides, eight bodies were recovered along the coast in Raigad district of Maharashtra and another eight bodies washed ashore the Gujarat coast near Valsad, officials had said.