Mumbai, May 20 (TIWN) The death toll in the barge tragedy near Bombay High Fields increased to 37 with 11 more bodies recovered and brought to shore, officials said here on Thursday.

On Wednesday, at least 26 persons on board the drifting Barge Papaa-305 were found dead in the stormy Arabian Sea in the aftermath of Cyclone Tauktae.

More than 40 people are still missing for whom the search continues, as the Centre ordered a probe into the tragedy.

The 37 bodies have been brought back to Mumbai by Indian Navy ships which were completing dare-devil rescue missions for the past 72 hours.

The Union Ministry for Petroleum & Natural Gas late on Wednesday ordered the creation of a high-level committee to probe the sequence of events leading to the stranding of ONGC vessels in the Cyclone Tauktae, etc in and around the Bombay High Fields, around 175 kms off Mumbai.

A total of 261 persons were on board Pappa-305, an accommodation barge, which sank late on Monday.