The central government has set up a high-level committee to inquire into the sequence of events that led to the stranding of several vessels at the western offshore site of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd during the cyclone Tauktae.

The committee, comprising Amitabh Kumar, Director General of Shipping, S.C.L. Das, Director General of Hydrocarbons, and Nazli Jafri Shayin, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Defence, has been constituted to inquire into the stranding, drifting and subsequent events that led to the loss of several lives, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said in a statement.

Cyclone Tauktae hit the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mumbai early on Monday, where ONGC’s major production installations and drilling rigs are located.

Three construction barges and one drilling rig deployed by ONGC were set adrift, the firm said in a statement on Tuesday. Out of 261 people on board Barge Papaa–305, one of the sunk barges, 148 had been rescued by the Indian Navy within around 24 hours.

The committee has been tasked to inquire into lapses and gaps in the systems leading to the stranding and drifting of these vessels, the statement said.

The committee will probe whether the warnings issued by India Meteorological Department and other statutory authorities were adequately considered and acted upon. It will also look into whether the Standard Operating Procedures for securing the vessels and dealing with disaster management were adequately followed.

The committee will submit its report within one month, the statement said.

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