Rescuers searching for 22 missing crew members of the cargo vessel MV Ocean Winner on Tuesday recovered an emergency beacon and located a lifeboat associated with the Panama-flagged ship, but did not find survivors, the coast guard said.
“ICGS (Indian Coast Guard Vessel) Varad, supported by Indian naval aircraft, additional Coast Guard ships and merchant vessels operating nearby, is conducting an extensive search across the designated area. During an aerial sweep, a naval aircraft detected an emergency beacon transmission and directed Varad to its location, where the beacon linked to MV Ocean Winner was recovered before the empty lifeboat was found,” a Coast Guard spokesperson said.
The 1998-built bulk carrier, carrying about 71,200 metric tonnes of iron ore fines from Paradip port in Odisha to China, sank around 290 nautical miles off Paradip in the deep waters of the Bay of Bengal on August 21.
Two of the 24 crew members were rescued earlier from life rafts, while the remaining 22, including several Chinese nationals, continue to remain missing.
{{/usCountry}}Two of the 24 crew members were rescued earlier from life rafts, while the remaining 22, including several Chinese nationals, continue to remain missing.
{{/usCountry}}The search operation, coordinated by ICG along with the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre Beijing, has intensified despite challenging weather and rough sea conditions.
Experts suggest that the vessel’s rapid capsize was consistent with bulk cargo liquefaction, one of shipping’s deadliest hazards.
Maritime industry publication, The Maritime Executive, said the speed of the sinking, the early development of a list and the cargo type pointed to liquefaction of iron ore fines. When saturated with water, iron ore fines can shift suddenly inside cargo holds during rolling, causing a vessel to lose stability and capsize rapidly.
The publication noted that at least 29 seafarers died in iron ore cargo liquefaction incidents worldwide between 2007 and 2019.
Paradip Port Authority officials said Odisha has experienced 29% excess monsoon rainfall this season, with heavy rain lashing the coast through July and August.
Captain Manoj Sahoo of Navitech Logistics said considering that the fines were stocked in open space, there was a distinct possibility that they attracted moisture.
“Liquefaction is one possibility. Besides, leaking hatch covers during rough weather could have allowed seawater into the cargo holds, accelerating liquefaction. Ocean Winner was also nearing its life expectancy, considering that it was 28 years old, and ships generally have an operational lifespan of 25 to 30 years. So there is a possibility of structural deterioration,” Sahoo said.
Neither Bothra Shipping, which acted as the loading agent for the iron ore fines nor the Paradip Port Authority officials responded to HT’s queries on liquefaction