'No Trace Of 22 Sailors': Coast Guard Recovers Distress Radio Transmitter And Lifeboat Of Sunken Panama-Flagged Ship

The ongoing search and rescue operation launched by the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and the Navy for 22 sailors of a Panama-flagged ship that sank off the Odisha coast on August 22, has found an emergency beacon of the vessel and a lifeboat. However, there is still no trace of the 22 sailors, news agency PTI quoted officials as saying.

The ill-fated MV Ocean Winner had 24 crew members on board and was carrying 72,000 tonnes of iron ore to China via Singapore. Two of the crew members, both Chinese nationals, were rescued as they were floating on water in liferafts on August 22.

No trace of 22 sailors

The ICG, in a statement, said the search and rescue efforts for the missing crew members of MV Ocean Winner have been further augmented in coordination with the MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre), Beijing. "However, the search and rescue operation, which is underway since the sinking of the ship on Saturday, has so far rescued only two sailors, while there is no trace of 22 other sailors," it said.

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Additional Coast Guard assets and merchant vessels in the area are also being deployed and coordinated to intensify the search operation, it said. "ICGS Varad, in coordination with merchant vessels in the area, is undertaking an extensive search for the missing crew members. During an aerial search, a naval aircraft detected a distress transmission and guided ICGS Varad towards the reported location," the ICG said.

Emergency beacon recovered

"At approximately 7 am on Aug 25, ICGS Varad located a lifeboat of MV Ocean Winner in the search area. A boarding team inspected the lifeboat; however, no survivors were found… Subsequently, ICGS Varad recovered an emergency beacon from the area, which, on verification, was confirmed to be associated with MV Ocean Winner," the statement said.

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The agencies involved in the exercise have extended the area of operation, suspecting that the sailors might have been pushed away due to currents and waves, the officials said. The two survivors, who are under treatment in a Coast Guard rescue ship, are likely to be brought to Paradip, around 230 nautical miles from the coast, they said. Twenty of the 24 crew members are Chinese nationals, three are from Myanmar, and one is from Bangladesh.

(With inputs from PTI)