Deaths from the sinking of a ship off the west coast of India after Cyclone Tauktae rose to 37, according to the latest information released Thursday, as the search for more than 40 missing continues.
The Indian rescue forces recovered 37 bodies of crew members aboard the ship P-305, which sank last Monday with 273 passengers about 35 nautical miles from the coastal city of Bombay, capital of the state of Maharashtra, due to the storm that caused Cyclone Tauktae as it passed by the western coast of India.
The teams, which were deployed by sea and air, managed to rescue 188 crew members alive, while they continue to locate another 48, according to the latest update issued by the communication office of the Indian Navy.
“Indian Navy ships and aircraft continue to search for missing crew members. They were joined by the efforts of coast guard units,” he said.
RESCUER GROUPS SEARCH FOR MORE THAN 40 MISSING
The total death toll now stands at 96 after extremely severe cyclone Tauktae passed through the states of Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra and Gujarat, where it made landfall late Monday and has weakened into a depression.
In Gujarat, the worst hit, deaths totaled 45. Among those killed, at least 24 died from collapsing walls and six from falling trees.
These deaths were added to those registered last Monday in neighboring Maharashtra, where there were at least six, in addition to nine injured, while in southern Karnataka, at least eight people lost their lives.
The Tauktae crossing forced the Gujarat authorities to evacuate more than 200,000 people along with some 12,500 in Maharashtra, which also had to suspend all its air activity, as well as the vaccination campaign against COVID-19.
According to information from the Indian Meteorology Department (IMD), the cyclone made landfall Monday night in Gujarat with sustained winds of between 85 and 95 miles per hour and gusts that reached 110 miles per hour.
They investigate the causes of the accident.
The passage of cyclones is common on the Indian coast and one of the last, the Burevi, hit the south of the country last December, causing at least seven deaths and damaging hundreds of homes.
Also in May 2020, the super cyclone Amphan left more than a hundred dead in India and Bangladesh, in one of the worst catastrophes of its kind in years.