Bhubaneswar: Two of the 24 crew members of the Panama-flagged cargo vessel MV Ocean-Winner, which sank in the Bay of Bengal, have been rescued, and the search for the remaining missing crew is under way, the Indian Navy said on Sunday.

The ship sank around 240 nautical miles off the Odisha coast on Saturday, prompting a major search-and-rescue operation by Indian maritime authorities. It had left Paradip Port at about 10:30 p.m. on August 20 carrying around 1,700 tonnes of iron ore bound for Singapore. The 24 crew members comprised 20 Chinese nationals, three from Myanmar and one from Bangladesh. Officials confirmed the vessel was loaded with iron ore from Odisha.

In a statement on X, the Eastern Naval Command said that on August 22, responding to a distress alert for MV Ocean-Winner approximately 700 km east of Visakhapatnam, an Indian Navy P-8I aircraft on a surveillance sortie was rapidly re-deployed for a search-and-rescue mission in coordination with the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) at Sri Vijaya Puram. The aircraft located a geographically dispersed liferaft and coordinated with the nearby merchant tanker MT AISOPOS, requesting it to render assistance. By late evening on August 22, MT AISOPOS had rescued two of the 24 crew members from the liferafts.

The Navy said it continues to coordinate closely with the Indian Coast Guard in the operation to locate the remaining crew.

The MRCC in Sri Vijaya Puram received an alert at 11:48 a.m. on August 22 that contact with the vessel had been lost. The request for assistance came from Victory Star Group Co. Ltd, the company operating the ship. The vessel’s last known position was reported near 317 East Island Light, about 310 nautical miles away. The MRCC activated the Indian Search and Rescue network, and MT AISOPOS was diverted to the area. Around 8 p.m., the tanker recovered two survivors from two separate liferafts.

Coast Guard ships ICGS Varad and ICGS Anmol were deployed, while ICGS Vijit sailed from Sri Vijaya Puram to reinforce the effort. Authorities also alerted other ships in the vicinity and asked them to help locate the remaining crew members.

The exact cause of the sinking remains under investigation. Further updates on the rescue operation and the condition of the survivors are awaited.

Bhubaneswar: Two of the 24 crew members of the Panama-flagged cargo vessel MV Ocean-Winner, which sank in the Bay of Bengal, have been rescued, and the search for the remaining missing crew is under way, the Indian Navy said on Sunday.

The ship sank around 240 nautical miles off the Odisha coast on Saturday, prompting a major search-and-rescue operation by Indian maritime authorities. It had left Paradip Port at about 10:30 p.m. on August 20 carrying around 1,700 tonnes of iron ore bound for Singapore. The 24 crew members comprised 20 Chinese nationals, three from Myanmar and one from Bangladesh. Officials confirmed the vessel was loaded with iron ore from Odisha.

In a statement on X, the Eastern Naval Command said that on August 22, responding to a distress alert for MV Ocean-Winner approximately 700 km east of Visakhapatnam, an Indian Navy P-8I aircraft on a surveillance sortie was rapidly re-deployed for a search-and-rescue mission in coordination with the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) at Sri Vijaya Puram. The aircraft located a geographically dispersed liferaft and coordinated with the nearby merchant tanker MT AISOPOS, requesting it to render assistance. By late evening on August 22, MT AISOPOS had rescued two of the 24 crew members from the liferafts.

The Navy said it continues to coordinate closely with the Indian Coast Guard in the operation to locate the remaining crew.

The MRCC in Sri Vijaya Puram received an alert at 11:48 a.m. on August 22 that contact with the vessel had been lost. The request for assistance came from Victory Star Group Co. Ltd, the company operating the ship. The vessel’s last known position was reported near 317 East Island Light, about 310 nautical miles away. The MRCC activated the Indian Search and Rescue network, and MT AISOPOS was diverted to the area. Around 8 p.m., the tanker recovered two survivors from two separate liferafts.

Coast Guard ships ICGS Varad and ICGS Anmol were deployed, while ICGS Vijit sailed from Sri Vijaya Puram to reinforce the effort. Authorities also alerted other ships in the vicinity and asked them to help locate the remaining crew members.

The exact cause of the sinking remains under investigation. Further updates on the rescue operation and the condition of the survivors are awaited.