ONGC supply vessel sinks off Mumbai, 8 missingPress Trust of India / Mumbai July 9, 2007Eight people aboard a Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) supply vessel were missing after it sank off the Mumbai coast today.Samudrika-10, an offshore supply vessel, was carrying 17 people when it sank at 1230 hrs. While nine were rescued, search is on to locate eight others."In the earlier information given to us by ONGC, there were 13 people on board, of which four were missing. Now as per latest information, the total number of crew members are 17, of which eight are missing," Commander Coast Guard Region (West) Inspector General A Rajasekhar told PTI.The Coast Guard has pressed into action two of its vessels to assist ONGC in the search operation. Two ONGC vessels, and a helicopter supported by Coast Guard Donear aircraft and a Naval vessel were engaged in search and rescue operations."The rescued crew were evacuated to the ONGC offshore platform. There is no oil spill on account of the mishap," Rajasekhar said.Earlier, R S Sharma, chairman and managing director, ONGC said that though he had not lost hope, he feared "at least four to five people may be dead".Samudrika-10 was one of the 14 such vessels owned by ONGC, but it was operated by private agency Sical Logistics and all 17 on board were its employees.Sharma also said operations of Bombay High fields - the country's largest oil and gas field - will not be affected.The accident is reminiscent of an incident in July 2005 when a similar supply vessel sank after colliding with an oil station of the public sector company in the Mumbai High fields.Updated at 1530 hrs: An ONGC-owned offshore supply vessel (OSV)
