Bhubaneswar: Days after the Panama-flagged cargo vessel MV Ocean Winner sank in the Bay of Bengal off the Odisha coast, search teams have located a lifeboat bearing the ship’s name, while there is still no trace of the 22 missing crew members.
Sources said rescuers searching for 22 missing crew members of the cargo vessel on Tuesday recovered an emergency beacon and located a lifeboat, but did not find survivors or the ship.
The lifeboat was located during a joint search operation being carried out by the Indian Coast Guard’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) and the MRCC of China. However, no crew member was found inside the lifeboat, Coast Guard sources said.
Coast Guard vessel ICGS Varad has also located an emergency beacon, which was confirmed to be associated with the missing cargo vessel.
The vessel had left Paradip Port on the night of August 20 carrying around 1,700 tonnes of iron ore and was bound for Singapore. It was reported to have lost contact on August 22 while sailing around 240 nautical miles off the Odisha coast.
There were 24 crew members aboard the vessel, including 20 Chinese nationals, three Myanmar nationals and one Bangladeshi national. Two Chinese crew members were rescued from separate life rafts by the merchant vessel MT AISOPOS on August 22.
Meanwhile, two Chinese vessels have joined the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and Navy in the search for 22 crew members.