Five missed from ONGC vessel that sinks off in Mumbai

July 10: As many as five employees of a Singaporean agency has been missing since 12.30 noon on Monday from ONGC owned vessel as it sunk off in the Bombay high zone near the bassein in the Arabia Sea.

Samudrika-10, one of the supply vessels of ONGC fleet was operating in the Arabia Sea at 56 nautical miles from Nava Sheva supply base of ONGC. Suddenly it began to take water in it and this vessel sank off completely. The satellite fields were also missed. There were 14 crewmembers working on board at the time of accident in which nine of the members were rescued immediately by the joint efforts of coast guard and ONGC, but five employees drifted in the choppy water and still missing till today. The efforts were going on till today morning.

“The search is still on and there is a possibility that the missing crew might have drifted in the choppy waters. They will be picked up as soon as they are spotted," ONGC spokesperson Harish Aval said on Tuesday. On the other hand, another officer told, “They may be still surviving; if they have worn life jackets otherwise it is very unlikely after so much time in choppy waters”.

ONGC have a fleet of 60 supply vessels in which Samudrika-10 was one of them. This will not affect much to the ONGC because of having huge numbers of vessels like Samudrika-10. Besides this it will get some insurance up to $2-3 million. But it is the SICAL, which lost its five employees that taking care of the vessels of the ONGC.

“It is the third major accident within last years”, said ONGC Chairman and Managing Director Mr. R S Sharma. The offshore supply vessel was on high sea near Sagar Gaurav rig in the Bassein fields when water crept in.” added Sharma.

However, the sinking of the vessel has not caused any oil spill in the area.”, said A Rajasekhar, the Inspector General of Commander Coast Guard Region (West).

Asking about the rescue operation, Chairman Sharma told that a helicopter and three vessels have been pressed into service to locate the missing while other nine crew members were saved immediately. “Drivers and doctors have also been sent to the accident site to help in the rescue operation” said another spokes person of the company.

According to Sharma, the M D of ONGC, “Samudrika-10 was commissioned in 1986 and went for a dry-dock maintenance in February 2006. The next dry-dock maintenance was scheduled in November 2008. The vessel sailed from Nava Sheva on July 6 under sea-worthy conditions with all required fitness certificates and statutory requirement.”