Oman says crew member of capsized tanker found dead and nine rescued

Image source, Indian Navy

Image caption, The Indian Navy released a photo showing a warship approaching a lifeboat in the Arabian Sea
  • Author, David Gritten
  • Role, 大象传媒 News

Omani authorities say nine members of a 16-strong Indian and Sri Lankan crew have been rescued, after going missing when their oil tanker capsized off the coast of Oman on Monday. One other has been found dead.

in the Arabian Sea on Wednesday.

, but added that 鈥渢ragically, one crew member was found deceased.鈥

India and Oman are continuing the search for the remaining crew in what the navy described as 鈥渃hallenging weather conditions鈥, including rough seas and high winds.

The Comoros-flagged Prestige Falcon, which had 13 Indians and three Sri Lankans on board, capsized about 25 nautical miles (46km) south-east of the Ras Madrakah peninsula.

An Indian official told the 大象传媒 that the tanker had been on its way to the port of Aden in Yemen when it transmitted a distress call around 22:00 local time (16:30 GMT) on Monday.

Officials from Oman's Maritime Security Centre told Reuters news agency on Tuesday that the vessel remained "submerged, inverted" but did not confirm if it had stabilised.

Oman's defence ministry, which runs the centre, did not respond to the 大象传媒's questions about whether the contents of the tanker had spilled into the sea.

The 117m (384ft)-long tanker was built in 2007, according to marinetraffic.com.

The area the ship capsized in falls in the province of Duqm in Oman, where the country has a major industrial port.

Indians form a majority of the global maritime workforce and are often the victims of accidents or piracy.

In April, 17 Indians, four Filipinos, two Pakistanis, one Russian and one Estonian national on board the MSC Aries, a Portuguese-flagged container ship, were stuck in Iran after Iranian troops seized the vessel. The crew were released the following month.