The Ocean Winner crew search has widened in the Bay of Bengal after Indian search teams recovered an empty lifeboat and an emergency beacon associated with the Panama-flagged bulk carrier. Twenty-two crew members remain missing.
The Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy are conducting the operation about 290 nautical miles from the Paradip coast. Merchant vessels and two Chinese ships are also assisting.
At around 7 a.m. on Tuesday, Indian Coast Guard ship Varad located a lifeboat linked to the casualty. A team boarded the craft but found nobody inside.
A naval aircraft later picked up a distress signal while searching from the air and directed Varad toward the source. The ship recovered an emergency position-indicating radio beacon, or EPIRB, which the Coast Guard confirmed was connected to Ocean Winner.
The beacon indicated that distress equipment from the bulk carrier had activated. Its recovery did not establish the whereabouts of the missing seafarers.
Ocean Winner, a 28-year-old bulk carrier, went down on 22 August during a voyage from Paradip Port to China with about 71,000 tonnes of iron ore on board. No cause for the sinking has been established.
The vessel sailed with 24 crew members. Two Chinese seafarers were later recovered from liferafts, leaving 22 people unaccounted for. The crew comprised 20 Chinese nationals, three Myanmar nationals and one Bangladeshi national.
Search efforts are being coordinated with the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Beijing. The Indian Coast Guard has deployed additional assets and merchant vessels, while Indian Navy ships and aircraft remain involved in the operation.
The search now covers a larger area to account for the possible movement of the missing crew caused by currents and waves.
The two rescued seafarers are receiving medical care aboard a Coast Guard rescue vessel and are expected to be brought to Paradip.
Ocean Winner Shipping Corporation Ltd has been identified as the owner of Ocean Winner. Victory Star Group Corporation Ltd submitted the initial request for search and rescue assistance to the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre after communication with the vessel was lost.
Paradip Port has also introduced additional operating precautions following the sinking, according to a dock supervisor. During rainfall, hatches are kept closed and cargo loading is halted to reduce the risk of moisture entering cargo holds. The measures have resulted in slower cargo-loading operations at the port.
