Daily Times

The Pakistan Navy saved nine Indian crew members whose ship drowned in the Arabian Sea near Gwadar, Director-General Public Relations (Navy) said on Thursday.

The incident took place on Tuesday, August 9, when an Indian sailing vessel “Jamna Sagar” sunk with 10 crew members onboard, according to the statement.

As the ship was sinking, Pakistan Navy responded to a distress call and the Pakistan Maritime Information Centre requested a nearby merchant ship “MT KRUIBEKE” to provide necessary assistance to the stranded crew of the drowning sailing vessel.

“The merchant ship eventually recovered nine crew members and continued voyage to its next port Dubai and onward disembarked the crew,” said the statement.

At the same time, one Pakistan Navy ship, along with two helicopters, also reached the area and located the body of one crew member who was earlier missing at the time of the drowning of the sailing vessel.

The body was recovered and handed over to Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) authorities for further proceedings.

Earlier, a Chinese national was safely rescued with the help of local fishermen in coordination with the PMSA on Wednesday.

The PMSA, in a statement on Thursday said its Sadaqat base received a distress call from local fishermen a day earlier, where they told the agency that they had sighted a man. The Chinese seafarer was later identified as Zuo Xiang Wei, who was sighted by local fishermen whilst he was drowning near the Phitti Creek.

Initially, first aid was given to the rescued Chinese seafarer at the PMSA base at Ibrahim Hydri, and he was later transferred to PMSA’s HQ for a detailed medical checkup.

The agency said it confirmed that the individual fell from a merchant vessel namely “Xin Shang Hai (IMO 9307231)” of Cosco Shipping on Wednesday near Karachi harbour.