MV Ocean Winner: Beacon, Lifeboat Found; 22 Crew Still Missing
Indian Coast Guard recovers MV Ocean Winner's distress beacon and lifeboat off Odisha. All 22 missing crew members remain untraced.
Three days after the Panama-flagged cargo vessel MV Ocean Winner sank in the Bay of Bengal, Indian Coast Guard (ICG) personnel have recovered the ship's emergency position-indicating radio beacon (EPIRB) and a lifeboat from the search area. However, there is still no trace of the 22 crew members who remain missing.
The recovery came on Tuesday after a naval aircraft detected a distress transmission during an aerial sweep and guided the ICG vessel ICGS Varad to the location. The beacon was subsequently confirmed to belong to the sunken ship. Earlier in the day, at around 7 am, a boarding team inspected the recovered lifeboat but found no survivors.
The search operation, which has been underway since Saturday night, involves multiple ICG assets, aircraft, and merchant vessels. The Maritime Search and Rescue Centre of China (MRCC Beijing) is also coordinating with the Indian Coast Guard and has deployed two merchant vessels to assist in the intensified search.
Of the 24 crew members aboard the vessel, 20 are Chinese nationals, including the two survivors. The remaining crew includes three from Myanmar and one from Bangladesh. The two rescued seafarers are currently on an ICG ship and are being brought back to the mainland, likely to Paradip, from where they will be repatriated to China in coordination with the Chinese embassy.
The MV Ocean Winner sank late Sunday night, approximately 230 nautical miles (425 km) from the Paradip coast. Officials stated that the vessel, which was carrying over 72,000 tonnes of iron ore from Odisha to China via Singapore, developed a tilt and sank within eight minutes. It had departed Paradip Port early Friday morning.
The search for the remaining missing crew members continues with sustained efforts, with authorities deploying additional assets to cover the extensive search area.