Four dead, 20 missing as Indian ship sinks near Bombay

Four people, including a woman, were killed and 20 others reported missing when a merchant ship, ''M V Arcadia Pride'' sank on Thursday morning in the Arabian sea, about eight nautical miles off the Bombay coast.

Naval and Coast Guard helicopters are continuing search operations in the choppy sea. They have rescued nine crew members (including chief officer Vinay Malani) so far.

Among those missing are Capt P K Singh, his four-year-old son Vishista and the ship's second engineer and wife.

A defence spokesperson said the incident occurred at around 8.30 am. On receiving the SOS call at around 9.00 am, three naval and two Coast Guard helicopters were pressed into search-and-rescue operations.

The ill-fated 20-year-old ship with 33 Indian crew, including three women and one child, anchored off Bombay on June 16 with a cargo of 12,000 tonnes of sulphur for the metro.

The ship belonged to the Bombay-based Arcadia shipping company. Its last port of call was Arruways in the United Arab Emirates.

Indian naval ship Matunga and Coast Guard ship Rajkiran are also involved in the rescue operations.

According to a defence spokesman, the shipping company confirmed that four of its staff -- S K Grover, S K S Roy, A K Ghose and Usha Malani -- met a watery grave.

Three of the rescued have been admitted to the St George Hospital in serious conditions.

In another incident, a Panamanian ship -- Green Opal -- sank in the Ganga river at Mayapur, about 40 kilometer from Calcutta, after it collided with a barge at around 9.30 am.

Calcutta Port Trust sources said that all the 20 crew members have been rescued.

UNI