Twenty-two seafarers remain missing after the panamax bulker Ocean Winner sank in the Bay of Bengal, prompting a joint search and rescue operation by the Indian Coast Guard and Navy.

The Panama-flagged vessel went down on Saturday approximately 240 nautical miles off Paradip, on India's east coast.

The 72,928 dwt bulker had departed Paradip on August 20 loaded with around 72,000 tonnes of iron ore fines. Its reported AIS destination was Singapore, although Indian shipping minister Sarbananda Sonowal described the voyage as China-bound. China, the world's largest iron ore importer, is a major buyer of Indian iron ore shipments from east coast ports such as Paradip.

The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre at Sri Vijaya Puram was informed at around 11.48am local time on Saturday that communication with the vessel had been lost. An Indian Navy P-8I surveillance aircraft, a long-range maritime patrol type, was diverted to the area and located liferafts before coordinating with the nearby tanker Aisopos, which recovered two survivors from separate liferafts at around 8pm. Coast Guard vessels have been deployed for the surface search, and other ships in the area have also been asked to assist.

The ship's 24 crew comprised 20 Chinese nationals, three seafarers from Myanmar and one from Bangladesh. The nationalities of the two rescued seafarers have not been disclosed. Both are receiving medical treatment while the search continues for the remaining 22.

Vessel databases list Fuzhou-based Ocean Winner Shipping as the ship's registered owner, commercial manager and ISM manager, and record it as a single-ship company. Victory Star Group, which made the request for search-and-rescue assistance, has been identified in Indian reporting as the vessel's operator. As flag state, Panama administers the world's largest ship registry by gross tonnage, and under international maritime conventions it falls to the flag state to investigate casualties involving its vessels.

The 225-metre ship was built at Hudong-Zhonghua in 1998, making it 28 years old. It previously traded as Tiara Globe in the Globus Maritime fleet until the Greek owner sold it for $5.5m in 2015. The vessel was subsequently renamed Sun Winner II before taking its current name in late 2023.

The cause of the sinking has not been established. The loss occurred during the southwest monsoon season in the Bay of Bengal, which typically runs from June to September. More broadly, iron ore fines are classed as a Group A cargo under the IMO's International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes Code, meaning they can liquefy if loaded with moisture above their transportable moisture limit, a hazard documented in a number of past bulker losses, though there is no indication at this stage of what caused the Ocean Winner to sink.

In a post on X, shipping minister Sarbananda Sonowal wrote:

Deeply concerned by the unfortunate incident involving MV OCEAN WINNER off the coast of Odisha. The Panama-flagged vessel was carrying iron ore from Paradip Port to China. All agencies are coordinating closely and actively doing search and rescue efforts. 2 survivors have been…

— Sarbananda Sonowal (@sarbanandsonwal) August 23, 2026