New Delhi, August 23, 2026: India’s Coast Guard and Navy continued search-and-rescue operations off the country’s eastern coast on Sunday after a Panama-flagged cargo vessel carrying 24 crew members sank, with two Chinese nationals rescued, officials said.
The two rescued seafarers told authorities that the vessel developed a severe list on Friday before sinking within just eight minutes, forcing the crew to abandon the ship, Shyam Jagannathan, director general of India’s Maritime Administration, told Reuters.
Jagannathan said the chances of finding survivors generally decline sharply after the first 12 hours, but rescue teams continued searching the area for the missing crew members.
According to the Indian Coast Guard, 22 crew members remain unaccounted for, including 18 Chinese nationals, three Myanmar nationals and one Bangladeshi.
The Indian Navy said it was closely coordinating with the Coast Guard to locate and rescue the remaining crew members.
The Coast Guard has deployed two vessels from Sri Vijaya Puram, formerly known as Port Blair, to support the search-and-rescue operation, while further efforts are being made to locate possible survivors.
The vessel, identified as the Ocean Winner, was carrying a cargo of iron ore bound for China after departing from India’s eastern Paradip port on Friday, according to an initial report prepared by the Maritime Administration.
Government sources said the cargo ship sank approximately 240 nautical miles from Paradip port.
The cause of the sinking remained unclear, and authorities were expected to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident once the immediate search-and-rescue operation is completed.
The incident has prompted an extensive maritime response as Indian authorities race against time to locate the 22 missing crew members.
