Ocean Winner Sinking Leaves 22 Seafarers Missing in Bay of Bengal

Twenty-two seafarers remain missing after the Panama-flagged bulk carrier Ocean Winner sank in the Bay of Bengal, triggering a major search and rescue operation involving the Indian Coast Guard and passing merchant ships.

India’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre at Sri Vijaya Puram launched the search on August 22 after receiving a distress alert and losing contact with the vessel approximately 230 nautical miles southeast of Paradip.

The Ocean Winner was carrying 24 crew members, including 20 Chinese nationals, three Myanmar nationals and one Bangladeshi national.

A distress message broadcast through the International Safety Net prompted vessels in the area to divert to the scene. The tanker Aisopos subsequently rescued two survivors from life rafts.

The Indian Coast Guard deployed three ships to continue searching for the remaining 22 crew members.

The International Transport Workers’ Federation said its thoughts were with the families of the missing seafarers and called on Panama, the vessel’s flag state, to urgently investigate the sinking.

The casualty comes amid renewed attention on the risks posed by cargo liquefaction aboard bulk carriers, although there has been no official determination of what caused the Ocean Winner to sink.

Liquefaction occurs when moisture in certain bulk cargoes causes material that appears solid to behave more like a liquid. The resulting cargo movement can quickly destroy a vessel’s stability and, in severe cases, cause it to capsize with little warning. Iron ore fines are among the cargoes that can be susceptible to the phenomenon.

The International Association of Dry Cargo Shipowners, INTERCARGO, warned in its latest casualty report that cargo liquefaction remains the deadliest hazard facing the bulk carrier sector.

Seventeen bulk carriers of 10,000 deadweight tons or larger were lost worldwide between 2016 and 2025, resulting in 71 seafarer deaths. Cargo liquefaction accounted for 37 of those fatalities, more than half of all lives lost during the decade.

The Ocean Winner casualty follows the sinking of the 56,000-dwt Devon Bay earlier this year while carrying nickel ore. Two seafarers were confirmed dead and four remained missing when INTERCARGO published its casualty report. Initial statements from survivors of the Devon Bay indicated excessive moisture in its roughly 55,000-ton nickel ore cargo may have caused the load to shift suddenly to port amid rough seas, according to the Philippine Coast Guard. Authorities stressed at the time that liquefaction was only the initial suspected cause.

INTERCARGO has repeatedly urged shipowners, operators and seafarers to exercise extreme caution when carrying nickel ore, bauxite, iron ore fines and other cargoes susceptible to liquefaction, particularly when loading during wet conditions.

Despite those risks, the industry’s overall safety record has improved significantly. INTERCARGO says the rolling 10-year average of annual bulk carrier losses continues to decline even as the global fleet grows, attributing the improvement to better ship design, regulatory compliance, crew training, operational experience and technology.

For the families of the Ocean Winner crew, however, attention remains focused on the ongoing search for the 22 missing seafarers.

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