MANGALURU: Four among 27 men aboard a barge, which began sinking after crashing against a breakwater near Mogaveerapatna Ullal, were rescued by Coast Guard on Saturday. The remaining workers have been left at the mercy of the turbulent sea.
As they clung on to their barge about 4km (2.2 nautical miles) off Ullal coast, the Coast Guard called off the rescue operations in the night after the weather turned stormy. The rescue operation is expected to resume only on Sunday morning.
The barge cum dredger Ibis, owned by a firm entrusted with the construction of breakwater (a wall to break the waves and protect coast), began sending distress signals after crashing against breakwater at about 3.30pm. But the distress signals were picked up late.
The Coast Guard sent patrol vessel ‘Amartya’ to the rescue of the stranded workers but it reached the site at 6.40pm. Amartya lowered a life boat towards the barge and managed to rescue four workers. But the boat could not be deployed again due to bad weather.
"Besides heavy winds, total darkness also stalled rescue operations,’’ sources said.
Though the sea had become rough, the workers were sent on a barge to the site of breakwater. Local youth besides questioning the logic behind such a risky operation, took officials to task for the delayed response to the distress signals. Many also felt that workers could have been rescued had a chopper been pressed to service.