A day after Cyclone Tauktae made landfall in Gujarat, the IMD predicted it is likely to cause widespread rain over northwest India for the next three days, with moderate to heavy intensity rainfall forecast in Delhi on Wednesday.

The cyclone is likely to drift north-northeastwards from Gujarat and cause heavy to very heavy rainfall over Rajasthan on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Indian Navy has so far rescued 177 people on board a barge that went adrift in the Arabian Sea.

Navy ships were deployed on Monday after receipt of a request for assistance for barge 'P305' adrift off Heera oil fields in Bombay high area with 273 personnel on board. The oil fields are around 70 km southwest of Mumbai.

Sixty persons on board the barge were rescued till 11 pm and the remaining overnight, the official said, adding a Navy helicopter brought three rescuees to INS Shikra this morning.

State-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) had on Monday said barge P305 with 261 personnel deployed for offshore drilling got de-anchored and began drifting because of the cyclonic storm Tauktae.

P305 being an accommodation barge had no engine to power it, and it hit an oil rig in the vicinity and there was the ingress of water, sources said.

The Navy on Tuesday morning also deployed the P-8I long-range, multimission maritime patrol aircraft to join the search and rescue operations, the official said.

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