Coast guard rescues 11 survivors off Port Blair coast

The Indian Coast Guard today rescued 11 survivors of a sinking cargo ship at high seas off Andaman Island.

The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) at Port Blair received distress message from cargo ship "MV ITT Panther" at around 6:25 am, reportedly listing dangerously about 206 NM from Port Blair, the coast guard said in a statement.

The master and the crew had abandoned the vessel in a life raft.

On receipt of the information, Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Dornier aircraft was launched immediately and a ship 'Rajkamal' was deployed from Port Blair for sea-air coordinated search and assistance.

The ICG aircraft located the survivors in a life raft at 9 am waving for assistance.

The ship, MV ITT Panther, reportedly sank due to loss of stability resulting from flooding.

While continuous monitoring of the survivors was carried out by the aircraft, Coast Guard ship Rajkamal arrived in area at 4:10 pm and all the 11 crew were rescued and taken onboard by the ship at 4:45 pm, braving rough sea and inclement weather conditions in area, the coast guard said.

All the survivors were provided first aid, food, water and observed to be in a healthy condition.

The coast guard ship is heading to Port Blair with survivors.

Since the onset of south-west monsoon, Indian Coast Guard has rescued 115 lives of mariners and fishermen in distress at sea.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)