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Indian Navy rescues 20 crew members of sinking ship

The vessel's crew informed the Navy that the ship had begun to list on one side in extremely bad weather.

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Mumbai: Twenty crew members of a merchant ship, which tilted heavily in the rough sea and later sank, were rescued by the Indian Navy off the Mumbai coast on Monday morning.

The Indian Navy received a message in the early hours of Monday that the merchant vessel, Jindal Kamakshi, with 20 people on board was in distress. It was on its way to Mundra port in Gujarat, but was caught in the rough seas about 40 nautical miles north of Mumbai near the Vasai coast.

The vessel’s crew informed the Navy that the ship had begun to list on one side in extremely bad weather. They sought the help of the Navy as 20 persons were on board and the ship was tilting heavily on one side. Sitanshu Kar, principal spokesperson for the Defence ministry, said all 20 crew members were rescued by naval helicopters. While a naval ship was sent to the rescue of the distressed vessel, a Sea King helicopter was despatched around 7 in the morning to airlift the crew members. Nineteen of them were picked up by the chopper.

Another helicopter then rescued the captain a few minutes later, just before the 9,100 dwt general cargo ship sank into the sea.

Heavy rains have been lashing the Mumbai and Konkan coast over the past four days and the Arabian sea too has turned rough. The authorities had warned fishing boats to stay off the sea.

The Indian Navy and the Coast Guard have also been on alert over the past few days to rush vessels for rescue operations in case of an emergency.

nithin@khaleejtimes.com

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