Indian rescuers search for 22 people missing after cargo ship sinks
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The chances of finding survivors generally fall sharply after 12 hours, but rescuers were continuing the search.
PHOTO: ST FILE
- A Panama-flagged cargo ship, Ocean Winner, sank off India's eastern coast on Aug 21, with two crew rescued and 22 missing, including 18 Chinese nationals.
- The ship sank within eight minutes after developing a list, forcing the crew to abandon ship rapidly.
- India’s Coast Guard and Navy are conducting ongoing search-and-rescue operations about 240 nautical miles from Paradip port, with cause of sinking unknown.
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NEW DELHI – India’s Coast Guard and Navy continued search-and-rescue operations off the eastern coast on Aug 23 after a Panama-flagged bulk carrier carrying 24 crew sank, with two Chinese nationals rescued, a senior official said.
The two Chinese seafarers said the vessel, called the Ocean Winner, had developed a list on Aug 21 and sank within eight minutes, forcing the crew to abandon ship, Shyam Jagannathan, director general of India’s Maritime Administration, told Reuters.
Jagannathan said the chances of finding survivors generally fall sharply after 12 hours, but rescuers were continuing the search.
“All agencies are coordinating closely and actively doing search and rescue efforts,” Sarbananda Sonowal, federal minister for the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, said in a social media post.
Missing crew members
The missing crew members include 18 more Chinese nationals, three Myanmar nationals and one Bangladeshi, according to India’s coastguard.
The Indian Navy is closely coordinating with the Coast Guard to locate the remaining crew, the Navy said in a post on X.
Two coastguard vessels from Sri Vijaya Puram, formerly known as Port Blair, the capital of India’s Andaman and Nicobar archipelago, were dispatched for the search-and-rescue operation, a coastguard spokesperson said.
The Ocean Winner was carrying iron ore bound for China after departing from India’s eastern Paradip port on Aug 21, according to an initial report prepared from India’s Maritime Administration.
The cargo ship sank about 240 nautical miles from the port, according to government sources.
The cause of the sinking was not immediately known. REUTERS
