BHUBANESWAR/PARADIP: The Indian Navy and the Coast Guard have intensified search and rescue operations for the Panama-flagged cargo ship MV Ocean Winner, which is feared to have sunk in the Bay of Bengal off Paradip coast.
While two crew members were rescued from life rafts on Saturday, 22 others are still missing. The Search and Rescue (SAR) operation is yet to locate the ship, which went off the tracking systems and lost communication about 290 nautical miles from Paradip coast on Friday.
Additional DG Coastal Security Arun Bothra said the vessel had sounded a distress alert on Saturday morning which was received by the Indian Navy. It immediately deployed a P8I aircraft, which was on surveillance sortie, in the SAR mission in coordination with the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) at Sri Vijaya Puram in Port Blair.
Coast Guard sources said the naval aircraft spotted an oil slick and three life rafts drifting in the vicinity of MV Ocean Winner’s last known position. However, there was no trace of the vessel. The MRCC then raised an international safety net (ISN) alert and two merchant vessels in the vicinity, MT Aospos and LNG Tanker MT Mol Azure, joined coast guard ships Varad, Anmol and Vijit in the operation.
By late Saturday evening (August 22), MT Aospos rescued two crew members from the life rafts. Ocean Winner with a load of around 71,000 metric tonnes of iron ore was reportedly bound for China. It was carrying 24 crew members, including 20 Chinese nationals, three Myanmarese and one Bangladeshi. The vessel was about 225-metre-long and 32-metre-wide.
The mishap with the vessel was confirmed by Union minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal. “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. Two survivors have been successfully rescued and are being given medical care. Their rank and identities are currently being verified,” he said in a post on X.
“The two rescued crew members are Chinese nationals. Search for the remaining 22 crew members is in progress by three ships and a navy aircraft,” ICG spokesperson Commandant Amit Uniyal told TNIE.
The exact cause of the disappearance/sinking has not yet been officially established. However, there could be several possible factors, including cargo condition and loading practices, vessel stability, structural integrity, ballast arrangements, mechanical or engine failure, and prevailing weather and sea conditions, sources said.
The large quantity of iron ore fines carried by the vessel may also prompt investigators to examine the possibility of cargo liquefaction, a phenomenon where excess moisture reduces the stability of certain bulk cargo and can affect the overall stability of a vessel. Possible overloading or improper cargo distribution could also be a factor, though there is currently no official confirmation that any of these caused the sinking, they added.
Some maritime experts have raised concerns over loading wet and muddy cargo during the rainy season which could also lead to such incidents. Similar concerns were raised after the sinking of the Black Rose vessel around 3 km off Paradip coast in on September 10, 2009. The Mongolian-flagged vessel was also carrying around 24,000 tonnes of iron ore.