A cargo ship with 24 persons onboard sinks

MANGALORE: The Indian coast guard on Saturday was trying to save 24 crew members trapped on a sinking cargo vessel stranded in the Arabian Sea, the local maritime rescue centre said.   

The vessel, buffeted by rough weather, ran aground and tilted Saturday morning off the coast of Karnataka state, raising fears that it could sink.   

"The rescue is a very risky job. The storm is still going on," said Sanjay Pal from the maritime rescue centre at the harbour city of Mangalore, which is close to the accident site.   

"It has 24 crew and is carrying 7,500 metric tonnes (8,250 short tons) of black sand."   

The centre was not able to confirm how many of the crew were safe but a local police official told the news channel that 10 people had been rescued.   

The local police official said that rain and heavy winds have hampered the rescue effort.   

"Rescue operations are going on from morning but because of bad weather we are not able to progress much," said B. Dayananda, a police officer.   

The maritime rescue centre said that operations were likely to continue for several hours as fears rose that the ship could sink and spill oil used to power the engine.   

"It can become submerged," said Pal. "There is also a massive chance of oil leakage and environmental pollution."