Coast Guard rescues sailors off Yemen

The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Mumbai, on Monday coordinated rescue operations involving a 316-metre long container ship that was about to sink and 26 sailors in life boats in high seas off Yemen coast.

According to a release issued by ICG, the hull of MV Mol Comfort carrying 4,500 containers from Singapore to Jeddah, broke into two pieces and the crew was forced to abandon it in two life boats.

At the time of incident, the ship  was 200 nautical miles from Yemen coast and around 840 nautical miles west of Mumbai. After an SOS was flashed, the ICG Mumbai rushed its officials to the disaster spot. Diverting vessels, three ships - MV Hanjin Beijing, MV Zim India and MV Yantian Express - the last of which was closest to the disaster. The ICG successfully managed to coordinate the rescue of crew members comprising 14 Filipinos and 12 Russian from the MV Mol Comfort in the rough seas.

The MV Yantian Express later took aboard the stranded crew. The broken vessel sank soon after the rescue operation, scattering containers and causing a massive oil spill in the sector.