Indian Coast Guard rescues 11 crew of sunken cargo ship, search on for 3 more

Two ships and an aircraft of the Indian Coast Guard(ICG) have rescued 11 crew members of the cargo ship ITT Puma, a Mumbai-registered general cargo vessel, that sank off India's Eastern State West Bengal, while sailing from Kolkata to Port Blair. The search operation that commenced around 7 pm IST, Sunday, 25^thAugust, is still underway amid harsh weather, as three crew remain missing.

On Sunday afternoon (Aug 25), the Indian Coast Guard's Maritime Search and Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Chennai received a distress email from the MV ITT Puma at 4:25 PM. In response to the evolving situation, ICG Regional Headquarters (North East), Kolkata mobilized ICG vessels Sarang, Amogh, and a Dornier maritime patrol aircraft for the search and rescue operations.

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The Dornier aircraft, equipped with advanced night-capable sensors reached the area around 7:50 pm and commenced the search for the missing crew. Within 25 minutes, the aircraft detected adrift life rafts and spotted distressed crew firing red flares to indicate their position.

With visual contact established, the aircraft directed the ICG ships toward the location of the survivors. On reaching the area, ICG ships identified two life rafts with orange canopies tied together. The survivors were seen signaling with whistles. This led to an unprecedented and extensive sea-air coordinated night Search and Rescue (SAR) operation, resulting in the rescue of eleven crew members during the late hours of Sunday and early hours of Monday.

While sailing from Kolkata to Port Blair, the cargo vessel MV ITT Puma is said to have sunken 90 nautical miles south of Sagar Island, off West Bengal.