Panama-Flagged Cargo Ship Sinks Off Odisha Coast With 24 Crew Aboard

A Panama-flagged cargo vessel sank in the Bay of Bengal on Saturday about 240 nautical miles from the Paradip coast in Odisha, Indian authorities said.

The ship, identified as MV Ocean Winner, was carrying iron ore bound for Singapore. It had 24 crew members on board: 20 Chinese nationals, three from Myanmar and one Bangladeshi.

The Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy launched a joint search and rescue operation after the vessel lost communication. Two sailors were located alive on life rafts by another vessel, MT AISOPOS, late on Saturday. The remaining 22 remain missing.

Coast Guard ships ICGS Varad, ICGS Anmol and ICGS Vijit were deployed, and nearby merchant vessels were asked to assist. The cause of the sinking has not been established.

The ship arrived at Paradip on August 20 and departed the Odisha coast on Friday. Officials said most of the crew were Chinese. Search operations continued overnight into Sunday under challenging sea conditions.

Maritime authorities are treating the incident as a priority search-and-rescue case. No further details on the vessel’s ownership or the precise sequence of events leading to the loss of contact have been released.