Hopes Fade for Rescuing Crew from Sunken Ship in Bay of Bengal

The search for 22 crew members missing after a cargo ship sank in the Bay of Bengal continues, but hopes of finding them alive are growing slim. The Indian Coast Guard and Navy are leading the rescue efforts around the sunken Panama-flagged vessel, which went down about 700 km east of Visakhapatnam.

On August 22, two Chinese crew members were rescued after a distress call was received from the MV Ocean Winner, which had sailed with iron ore from Paradip to China. The ship sank in a very deep part of the Bay of Bengal. So far, only an oil slick and two floating lifeboats have been spotted by search teams.

The search area has been expanded as time passes, making it harder to locate any survivors. The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre received the first alert about the lost communication with the ship on August 22 and quickly organized the rescue operation. However, no further success has been reported since then.

The MV Ocean Winner had 24 crew members, including 20 Chinese, three Myanmar nationals, and one Bangladeshi national. The vessel was 225 meters long, 32.26 meters wide, and could carry about 73,000 tonnes of cargo. It was owned by a company in Fujian, China, and insured under Protection and Indemnity (P&I) insurance.