In the wake of Cyclone Tauktae, Navy vessels, helicopters, tug boats, and rescue ships have been pressed into service to evacuate over 500 people stuck on different barges in the high sea off the Mumbai coast.
According to the latest information, a total of 182 people on-board barge P305, which sunk after it went adrift in the Arabian Sea near Mumbai, have been saved.
Near 80 people are still missing.
Meanwhile, a total of 339 people onboard Gal Constructor and SS-3 are said to be rescued.
After it made landfall on Saurashtra coast near Una in Gir Somnath district Monday night, Cyclone Tauktae battered the Saurashtra region with three deaths, power outage in around 2,500 villages, damage to 16,500 houses/huts, 40,000 incidents of tree falling, and damage to 196 roads.
According to the Indian Meteorological Department, the storm lay centred over Saurashtra about 75 km South-Southwest and 40 km West of Surendranagar.
Surjitt Sahani
