Bodies found on Valsad coast are of Mumbai vessels: Cops

Surat: Valsad police on Sunday confirmed that the bodies that had washed ashore are of tugboat Varaprada members and possibly of the barge P-305.
After four bodies were found on the coast at Dungri and Tithal on Saturday, three more bodies were found on Sunday morning.
Police said that of the seven bodies, four bodies have been identified. “One is of Nagendra Kumar, the captain of the tugboat, and others could be the personnel of the tugboat or the barge,” said Dr Rajdeepsinh Zala, superintendent of Valsad police.
The identification was done from the identity cards found on the bodies. “Once the family members reach and identify, this will be confirmed formally,” Zala said. He added that one more body will also be identified by Sunday night.
“We have found some clues and we are waiting for a confirmation,” he said. For identifying two other bodies, police are planning to go for a DNA test.
At around 6.30 am on Sunday, two bodies were found near the Sai Baba Temple at Tithal beach and at around 10am another body was found at Magod Dungri. Sources said that locals in Tithal had seen the bodies near the sea protection wall and alerted police. After four bodies, one of which was of Kumar, were found on Saturday, police intensified the patrolling along the coast.
The barge and the tugboat had sunk off Mumbai’s coast in the wake of cyclone Tauktae. The barge was found on the seabed on Saturday evening by the Indian Navy’s catamaran hydrographic survey vessel – INS Makar, it was to carry out another mission to locate the tugboat’s wreck.