The Indian coast guard (ICG) helicopters today rescued 30 crewmen of a foreign cargo ship that sank off Mumbai coast this morning.
The ICG and other Indian maritime safety agencies received SOS (Save Our Soles) message around 8 am from the crew of the cargo ship MV Rak Carrier that their ship was sinking 20 nautical miles off Mumbai coast in the Arabian Sea and requested the Indian officials to save them.
The ICG immediately swung into action and dispatched two helicopters and a smaller vessel for rescue operations. The Indian helicopters just took two hours to rescue all the 30 crewmen including 11 persons who jumped into the sea as the ship sank.
“The rescued crew included Indonesians and Jordanians mostly,” ICG spokesman R.V. Prasad told media persons in Mumbai soon after successful rescue operation.
Prasad said that the Indonesian ship, which was carrying 60,000 metric tonnes of coal, was proceeding to Gujarat when it lost balance following the accumulation of large quantity of water on its front side.
Indian coast guard ship Samudri Prahar , which was patrolling nearby, was also asked to move to the disaster area and coordinate the rescue operations.
