At least five people were feared drowned after a supply vessel of India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) sank off the west coast city of Mumbai Monday, news reports said, according to dpa. The Samudrika-10, an offshore supply vessel, was carrying 14 people when it sank at 1230 a.m. local time, the PTI news agency said. While nine people were rescued, teams from the Coast Guard and ONGC continued the search for others. "We have not yet lost hope and rescue operations are on. But we fear four to five people may be dead," RS Sharma chairman of the state-run ONGC, told PTI. Samudrika-10 was one of the 14 such vessels owned by ONGC, but it was operated by private agency Seacal, and all 14 people on board were its employees. According to senior officials of the Coast Guard, the sinking left no oil spill. The accident was reminiscent of one in July 2005, when an ONGC supply vessel sank after hitting an oil station, causing a major fire that claimed at least 11 lives.
