By IANS
Mumbai : Five crew members of an Oil and Natural Gas Corpn (ONGC) vessel were reported missing after one of its vessels, Samudrik-10, went down in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mumbai Monday.
"We managed to rescue nine of the 14 crew members of the vessel immediately after it sank. Five are still missing," said a senior ONGC official in Mumbai.
"Rescue operations are on. Teams of the Coast Guard, ONGC and the naval base in Mumbai are conducting rescues operations. Helicopters from the Coast Guard and the navy have been pressed into service to search for the missing crewmembers."
The vessel, one of the 14 such owned by the ONGC for transport of oil from its oil platforms at Bombay High, was being operated by a private firm Seacal. According to sources, it sank due to flooding.
"Preliminary reports said that the vessel sank due to flooding. However, there was no oil spill," said Coast Guard Region (West) Commander, Inspector General A. Rajasekhar.