SCI vessel sinks off Mumbai coast, no casualties

Mumbai : An offshore supply vessel of the state-run Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) sunk off the Mumbai coast this evening, officials said.

"All the 16 crew members on board SCI Ratna have been rescued," Director General of Shipping Malini Shankar told PTI.The incident occurred around 7.30 pm, she said.SCI chairman Capt Anoop Sharma said all the crew members were immediately rescued by another vessel operating in close vicinity and are on the way to Mumbai now.

He said the SCI Ratna was contracted with the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation to support its oil exploration operations at the Bombay High.Sharma said the ship sunk at 1930 hours around 100 nautical miles west of the city in waters which are about 70-80 metres deep.A detailed probe has been ordered into the incident, but initial assessment is pointing towards ingress of water into the engine room as a possible reason for the sinking, he said.

"How the water seeped into the engine will have to be established with a detailed probe," Sharma said, adding that the vessel was very young and had passed all the necessary checks on sea-worthiness.Publicly available data on trade websites said the 2,039-tonne ship was built in 2011 and had a length of 64 metres.