India’s Coast Guard and Navy stepped up search-and-rescue operations off the country’s eastern coast on Sunday after a Panama-flagged cargo vessel carrying 24 crew sank, with two Chinese seafarers rescued, officials said. The two survivors said the vessel developed a severe list on Friday before sinking within eight minutes, forcing the crew to abandon ship.
The Director general of India’s Maritime Administration, Shyam Jagannathan, said the chances of finding survivors generally decline sharply after 12 hours, but rescuers were continuing to search for the missing crew. Twenty-two seafarers remain unaccounted for aboard the Ocean Winner, including 18 Chinese nationals, three Myanmar nationals and one Bangladeshi, according to the Indian Coast Guard.
The Indian Navy said it was closely coordinating with the Coast Guard to locate the remaining crew, deploying a P-8I maritime patrol aircraft for the search after receiving a distress alert. The Coast Guard has also dispatched two vessels from Sri Vijaya Puram, formerly known as Port Blair, to support the operation, a spokesperson said.
The Ocean Winner was carrying iron ore bound for China after departing from India’s eastern port of Paradip on Friday, according to an initial report by India’s Maritime Administration. The vessel sank about 240 nautical miles from Paradip, government sources said.
The cause of the sinking was not immediately known, as rescue teams continued their search for the missing seafarers.