Click to play videoMumbai: Indian coast guards have launched a rescue operation to fish out eight crew members of an ONGC ship, which sank off Mumbai coast on Monday.
Out of the 17 people on board an ONGC vessel, nine have already been rescued.
An official said that the ship, Samudrika-10, had developed some decay and a hole in the steerage area.
It resulted in flooding and at around noon, the ship ultimately sank off the coast at Bombay High. Coast guards ships as well as helicopters have been pushed for rescue mission.
"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 said.
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 was no oil spill on account of the mishap," Rajasekhar said.
Earlier, ONGC Chairman and Managing Director R S Sharma 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 Mumbai High fields.
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