A Panama-flagged cargo vessel carrying iron ore from Odisha to Singapore sank in the Bay of Bengal on Saturday, around 240 nautical miles off the Paradip coast, officials told news agency PTI.
The ship, identified as MV Ocean Winner, had 24 crew members on board. Two have been rescued so far, while search teams are looking for the remaining 22.
"The Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy have launched a rescue operation. So far, two persons have been rescued from the waters," a senior IPS officer told PTI.
The vessel had left the Odisha coast on Friday and was headed for Singapore with a consignment of iron ore. It lost communication with its base before sinking, triggering a major search and rescue operation involving the Indian Coast Guard and the Indian Navy.
The Coast Guard said the crew comprised 20 Chinese nationals, three Myanmar nationals and one Bangladeshi national.
The ship went down far from the coast. Other vessels in the area have been alerted and asked to help with the search.
Officials are now trying to locate the missing crew members and establish their positions. But the circumstances that led to the vessel losing communication and sinking are still unclear.
There has been no immediate word on what went wrong aboard MV Ocean Winner. Authorities have not said whether the vessel sent out a distress signal before contact was lost. The search operation is continuing in the Bay of Bengal.
PTI also cited an unnamed police officer as saying that “authorities were initially unsure how many crew members had been rescued”. Officials later confirmed that two people had been pulled from the waters.
No further details about their condition were immediately available.
The incident has brought together the Coast Guard and Navy for what is likely to be a difficult search, given the vessel's distance from the shore. Ships operating nearby have also been asked to remain alert and assist if required.
The priority, for now, is finding the 22 crew members who remain missing. The cause of the sinking has not yet been established, and more details are expected as the rescue operation continues.
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