A barge has sunk with about 550 MT of cargo on board whilst discharging bauxite from a vessel west of Breakwaters at the Open Anchorage in Goa, India.
According to reports, the barge suffered engine failure and started to draft while proceeding to shore on 30 January, and due to bad weather/sea conditions sank in the evening of the same day.
All crew was rescued and reported, safe.
Mormugao Port Authority has warned shipping not to navigate in the area where the barge sunk (Latitude 15 26.75’N, Longitude 073 42.78’E). There are no navigational restrictions/warnings currently in place as the barge sunk far from the main channel.
Due to the long lull in iron ore exports from Goa, most barges have either been scrapped or moved to other states. But there are still enough barges available for the movement of cargo.
The mention of ‘bad weather’ as a reason for the sinking is a result of poor (bad) knowledge of the reason/s. There have been mill pond conditions over the sea area around Goa for the last few weeks atleast!