Two MV Ocean Winner survivors brought to Paradip; 22 crew still missing

The two Chinese nationals were rescued from a liferaft after the vessel sank on August 22; search operations continue for the remaining 22 crew members

Five days after the Panama-flagged bulk carrier MV Ocean Winner sank in the Bay of Bengal, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) brought the two survivors to the mainland on Thursday, while the search for the remaining 22 crew members continued amid growing uncertainty over their fate.

 

ICG ship Varad safely brought the two Chinese survivors — Pan Tonglai and Chen Jianhe — to Paradip. The two were rescued from a liferaft on August 22, shortly after the vessel went down, and received medical care on board the Coast Guard ship during transit.

 

They were handed over to authorised representatives of the vessel's company in the presence of officials from the Bureau of Immigration and local police, said ICG spokesperson Commandant Amit Uniyal.

 

 

However, there was no breakthrough in locating the other 22 crew members of the ill-fated vessel. "Coordinated sea and air search operations continue in full swing to locate the remaining missing crew members," Uniyal said.

 

Three ships, including two merchant vessels from China, have been engaged, and a couple of more vessels will join them in the search operation. The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), Sri Vijaya Puram (Port Blair), and the one in Beijing are continuously coordinating with all participating assets involved in the rescue effort.

 

The MV Ocean Winner, a nearly 28-year-old bulk carrier, sank in the Bay of Bengal on August 22, shortly after sailing from Paradip Port with more than 72,000 tonnes of iron ore fines. The 225-metre vessel had 24 crew members on board, including 20 Chinese nationals, three from Myanmar and one from Bangladesh.

 

It was headed for China on its onward voyage when it lost communication and subsequently sank about 230 nautical miles off the Odisha coast. Although the causes that led to the vessel's sinking are yet to be officially revealed, cargo liquefaction is suspected to be the main reason behind the mishap.

 

Meanwhile, a preliminary inquiry has begun into the sinking of the vessel. A three-member team from the Directorate General of Shipping, Kolkata, has arrived in Paradip to investigate the incident. The team is verifying the vessel's records at the port.

 

Sources said while the ICG and Indian Navy are carrying out search operations on humanitarian grounds, the detailed investigation is taking time because the incident occurred in international waters beyond India's exclusive economic zone and involved two other countries.

 

"In this case, either Panama or China can investigate the incident with the help of Indian authorities. Since the bulk carrier belongs to a Fuzhou, China-based single-ship registered company and a majority of the crew members are Chinese, it must take an immediate call to find out the causes," said Captain Nakiran Velluswamy Mudaliar, senior vice-president of a shipping company.

 

Pointing to possible lapses in following safeguards before the iron ore fines were loaded at Paradip Port, Henry Li, a Fujian-based independent marine inspector, said that iron ore fines are Category A cargoes that may liquefy if shipped with a moisture content exceeding the transportable moisture limit (TML).

 

"It must be determined before loading begins, and the result must be reported to the vessel Master. All reports and certificates are usually obtained, but such incidents happen when the certificate becomes a checklist item rather than a safety barrier," he said in a post.

 

Paradip is India's second-largest port with dedicated iron ore berths. It handles millions of tonnes of iron ore fines and pellets every year. Since stockpiles of iron ore fines are often left exposed on the quay, Li suspected the cargo might have been drenched by sudden monsoon squalls and loaded before the water was properly drained.

 

Earlier, the Japan Protection and Indemnity (P&I) Club had issued warnings about the safe shipment of iron ore fines from Indian ports following the Black Rose and Asian Forest incidents in 2009. The China P&I Club had also expressed similar concerns about vessels loading iron ore fines during the monsoon season due to serious risks of cargo liquefaction.

 

"The warnings were issued. But 17 years later, a vessel loaded at the same port, in the same season, with the same cargo, suffered the same fate," he added.