Two rescued after MV Ocean-Winner sinks in Bay of Bengal; 22 crew members missing
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Bhubaneswar: Two of the 24 crew members aboard the Panama-flagged cargo vessel MV Ocean-Winner, which sank in the Bay of Bengal, have been rescued, while a major search operation is under way to trace the remaining 22, the Indian Navy said on Sunday.
The vessel sank on Saturday about 240 nautical miles off the Odisha coast, triggering a coordinated search-and-rescue operation by the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and merchant vessels in the area.
The MV Ocean-Winner had left Paradip Port at around 10.30 p.m. on August 20 with approximately 1,700 tonnes of iron ore and was headed to Singapore. The ship was carrying 20 Chinese nationals, three Myanmar citizens and one Bangladeshi national.
The Eastern Naval Command said an Indian Navy P-8I maritime patrol aircraft, which was on a surveillance mission, was diverted after a distress alert was received on August 22.
“Responding to the distress alert received in respect of MV Ocean Winner, approximately 700 km east of Visakhapatnam, Indian Navy aircraft P8I on surveillance sortie was rapidly re-deployed for Search & Rescue mission in coordination with MRCC at Sri Vijaya Puram,” it said in a post on X.
The aircraft located liferafts scattered across the search area and coordinated with the nearby merchant tanker MT AISOPOS to provide assistance.
By late Saturday evening, the tanker had rescued two crew members from separate liferafts, the Navy said.
The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre at Sri Vijaya Puram received an alert at 11.48 a.m. on August 22 after contact with the vessel was lost. The request for rescue assistance was received from Victory Star Group Co. Ltd, the ship’s operating company.
The vessel’s last reported position was near 317 East Island Light, around 310 nautical miles away, officials said.
The MRCC subsequently activated the Indian Search and Rescue network and diverted MT AISOPOS to the area. The tanker recovered the two survivors at around 8 p.m. on Saturday.
The Coast Guard has deployed ICGS Varad and ICGS Anmol for the operation, while ICGS Vijit sailed from Sri Vijaya Puram to reinforce search efforts. Other vessels in the vicinity have also been alerted and asked to assist in locating the missing crew members.
The Indian Navy said it was working closely with the Coast Guard to trace the remaining crew members. The cause of the sinking is being investigated.
(Inputs from IANS)