Search continues for 22 after bulk carrier sinks off India

NEW DELHI: India’s Coast Guard and Navy continued search-and-rescue operations off ​the eastern coast on Sunday after a Panama-flagged ‌cargo vessel carrying 24 crew sank, with two Chinese nationals rescued, a senior official said.

The two rescued Chinese seafarers said ​the vessel developed a list on Friday and ​sank within eight minutes, forcing crew to abandon ⁠ship, Shyam Jagannathan, director general of India’s Maritime Administration, ​told Reuters.

Jagannathan said the chances of finding survivors generally fall ​sharply after 12 hours, but rescuers were continuing the search.

Twenty-two crew members remain missing from the Ocean Winner, including 18 Chinese ​nationals, three Myanmar nationals and one Bangladeshi, according to ​the Indian Coast Guard.

The Indian Navy is closely coordinating with the ‌Coast ⁠Guard to locate the remaining crew, the Navy said in a post on X.

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The Coast Guard has sent two vessels from Sri Vijaya Puram, formerly known as ​Port Blair, for ​the search-and-rescue ⁠operation, a Coast Guard spokesperson said.

The Ocean Winner was carrying iron ore bound for ​China after departing from India’s eastern Paradip ​port on ⁠Friday, according to an initial report prepared from India’s Maritime Administration.

The cargo ship sank about 240 nautical miles from ⁠the ​port, according to government sources.

The ​cause of the sinking was not immediately known.