Navy chopper rescues 20 from sinking vessel

The Indian Navy helicopters on Monday rescued all the 20 crew members onboard Jindal Kamakshi after receiving a distress call late on Sunday. The crew members were stranded on the Indian merchant vessel, sinking in the Arabian Sea off Mumbai Coast. After rescuing the crew members, they brought them to the INS Shikra Naval Air Station in Colaba at around 9 am. They will now be taken for medical tests, reports said.

The Indian Navy had deployed a Sea King helicopter and a ship to assist the crew members of the merchant vessel after receiving a distress call at around 11.10 pm on Sunday. The crew had to call for assistance after they failed to clear water that had flooded one end of the vessel.“Information was received around midnight by the Indian Navy that a vessel in distress Jindal Kamakshi which was 40 nautical miles from Mumbai harbour and 25 nautical miles off Vasai coast had listed heavily,” a Defence spokesperson said, according to PTI.“Indian Navy has launched one Seaking helicopter to provide immediate assistance and a ship was also deployed for rendering assistance. The ship has been contacted,” he said.

He added that the other side of the tank has been flooded to stabilize the vessel, which was sinking from one end. The ship is said to be stable now, and the efforts are on to prevent it from drifting towards Mumbai shore lines. “Considering the state of the sea in the area, we are keeping a close watch on the situation and keeping close to evacuate the vessel should the situation worsen,” he said.