22 missing after ship sinks; China joins India search

Twenty-two crew members remained missing after the Panama-flagged cargo vessel MV Ocean Winner sank in the Bay of Bengal, with Chinese authorities assisting India's search, the Indian Coast Guard said.

The vessel was carrying 24 crew members, including 20 Chinese nationals, when it sent a distress alert on Saturday, August 22. It had been sailing from Paradip port in the eastern Indian state of Odisha to Singapore.

Indian authorities began a rescue operation after the ship reported trouble around 700 kilometres east of Visakhapatnam. Two people were rescued, leaving 22 still unaccounted for. The crew also included three people from Myanmar and one from Bangladesh.

Indian Coast Guard spokesman Commandant Amit Uniyal said late Tuesday that search and rescue efforts had been expanded in coordination with China's Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Beijing. Rescuers had located an emergency beacon linked to the vessel, but had not found more survivors.

Uniyal said a lifeboat from the vessel had been spotted, with no survivors found. Local media reported that two Chinese vessels had joined the search operation.

The cause of the sinking was not clear.