The Indian coastguard and navy continued search-and-rescue operations on Sunday for 22 crew members missing after a Panama-flagged bulk carrier sank off India's eastern coast. The vessel, identified as the Ocean Winner, was carrying 24 people when it went down. Two Chinese nationals have been rescued so far, according to statements from Indian officials.
The Ocean Winner departed from India's eastern Paradip port on Friday carrying a cargo of iron ore bound for China. According to Shyam Jagannathan, director general of India's Maritime Administration, the ship developed a list on Friday and sank within eight minutes. The two survivors reported that the speed of the sinking forced the crew to abandon the vessel. The ship is reported to have sunk approximately 240 nautical miles from the port.
Search efforts involve the Indian Navy and two coastguard vessels dispatched from Sri Vijaya Puram. The missing crew members include 18 Chinese nationals, three individuals from Myanmar, and one from Bangladesh. Jagannathan noted that while the chances of finding survivors typically decrease after the first 12 hours, search operations remain active. The specific cause of the vessel's sinking has not yet been determined.
The scale of the search involves multiple branches of the Indian military and maritime authorities, including the coastguard and navy. Rescuers are searching a segment of the Bay of Bengal located 240 nautical miles from the Indian coast, a distance that requires significant logistical coordination for the two vessels dispatched from the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago. For shipping companies and maritime insurers, the sinking of a bulk carrier in under ten minutes represents a total loss of cargo and hull, though the specific dollar value of the iron ore and the vessel was not reported.
The event sets a safety precedent regarding vessel stability and emergency evacuation times, as the crew reportedly had only eight minutes to exit the ship after it began listing. The knock-on effects include potential investigations by India’s Maritime Administration and authorities in Panama, where the ship was flagged, to determine if mechanical failure or cargo shifting contributed to the rapid sinking. What happens next depends on the findings of the ongoing search-and-rescue mission; no specific deadline for the conclusion of the search or the start of a formal inquiry into the cause of the sinking was provided.