Govt appoints inquiry committee to probe drifting of vessels due to cyclone

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas on Wednesday constituted a 3-member High-Level Committee to inquire into the incident of several vessels drifting into the sea due to the Cyclone Tauktae. The committee has been asked to submit its inquiry report in one month.

The high-level committee comprises of Directorate General of Hydrocarbons, Directorate General of Shipping and Joint Secretary Ministry of Defence.

In a tweet, the Ministry informed, "MoPNG constitutes a 3-member High-Level Committee (HLC) comprising of SCL Das, DG @DghIndia, Amitabh Kumar, @dgship_goi and Nazli Jafri Shayin, JS Ministry of Defence to inquire into the incident of several vessels drifting into the sea."

"The committee will inquire into the sequence of events leading to the stranding and drifting of these vessels, and subsequent events thereof and will also make recommendations to prevent recurrence of such incidents in future. The HLC will submit its report in one month," it further said.

Battling extreme weather conditions, the Navy had rescued at least 186 survivors and recovered 26 bodies from barge P305 that sank in the Arabian Sea 35 nautical miles from Mumbai under the impact of Cyclone Tauktae on Wednesday.

The cyclone's intensity weakened on Wednesday but rains continued for the most part of the day. It has impacted the weather conditions in several parts of Northern India including Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi where heavy rainfall was witnessed.