Search intensifies as 22 sailors remain missing over 24 hours after vessel sinks off Odisha coast

The Indian Coast Guard and the Indian Navy on Sunday intensified the search for 22 crew members of a Panama-flagged bulk carrier that sank in the Bay of Bengal off the Odisha coast.

There were 24 crew members on the ship, and a joint search operation involving three Indian Coast Guard ships and an Indian Navy aircraft rescued two of them within hours of the incident on Saturday. The two survivors, both Chinese nationals, were being brought ashore by a ship. However, there was no trace of the 22 crew members or the ship more than 24 hours after it sank.

The vessel, MV Ocean Winner, was carrying iron ore from Odisha’s Paradip port to China when it sank. It had sailed from Paradip on August 20 with 24 crew members, 20 Chinese, three Myanmarese and one Bangladeshi.

In a statement, the Andaman and Nicobar Command of the Indian Navy said sustained monitoring and focused aerial searches by a P-8I aircraft led to the detection of two floating liferafts and an oil slick near the reported position of the vessel. It said two survivors had been safely rescued by MV Aisopos and were under medical care, with search efforts continuing.

Following a distress alert from MV Ocean Winner, the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre at Sri Vijaya Puram diverted MT Aisopos, a commercial vessel in the vicinity, to search for the vessel or liferafts and render assistance, an Indian Coast Guard spokesperson said. The Coast Guard deployed three ships to conduct surface searches for the remaining crew members, with Coast Guard ships Varad and Anmol deployed for the search operation and Vijit also engaged from Sri Vijaya Puram to augment the efforts. The Eastern Naval Command said a P-8I aircraft on a surveillance sortie was rapidly re-deployed for the search and rescue mission in coordination with the MRCC.

The MV Ocean Winner was carrying around 72,000 tonnes of iron ore, against a cargo-carrying capacity of about 73,000 tonnes.

Union Minister for Shipping Sarbananda Sonowal described the incident as unfortunate and said all agencies were coordinating closely in the search and rescue operation. “Deeply concerned by the unfortunate incident involving MV Ocean Winner off the coast of Odisha. The Panama-flagged vessel was carrying iron ore from Paradip Port to China. All agencies are coordinating closely and actively doing search and rescue efforts,” he said in a social media post.

Former Odisha minister Pritiranjan Gharai of the BJD demanded an independent inquiry into the transportation of iron ore fines to China and the circumstances surrounding the sinking of the vessel, saying the state government must know details of the cargo’s value, quantity, ownership and destination, and alleging repeated instances of mining theft in the state.

The Mongolian-flagged MV Black Rose sank off Paradip on September 9, 2009, developing technical problems a few kilometres from the coast while carrying around 23,847 tonnes of iron ore and 920 tonnes of furnace oil. In another 2009 incident, the Vietnam-flagged MV Vinalines Mighty developed a serious stability problem while carrying around 24,500 tonnes of iron ore from Paradip, but was saved after sending an SOS as it began to tilt.