Out of nine crew members, eight Indians and one Sri Lankan were rescued on Monday after the MT Falcon Prestige vessel capsized off the Oman coast. The vessel had a total of 25 crew members, of whom 13 were Indians.
The operations were carried out by the Indian Navy warship, the INS Teg which was on a operational turn around rescued one Sri Lankan and eight Indian sailors.
"The Indian warship was carrying out operational turnaround in the area from where it was directed on Monday (July 15) to carry out search and rescue missions. The warship had located the capsizing oil tanker on Tuesday (July 16) morning," sources in the Defence Ministry told India Today.
The Navy used P-8I maritime patrol aircraft along with the Oman assets and operators to extend the SAR for the remaining 16 members of the crew. The 16 crew members include 13 Indians and 3 Sri Lankans.
The tanker overturned 25 nautical miles southeast of Ras Madrakah in the Wilayat of Duqm, prompting a search and rescue operation coordinated with relevant authorities, according to Oman's Maritime Security Centre.
"The crew of the ship are still missing," it noted, adding that the search was ongoing. The vessel was en route to the Yemeni port city of Aden, as reported by the shipping website (MarineTraffic).com, which indicated it had departed from the port of Hamriya in Dubai.
The oil tanker was “sunk and capsized” but this did not mean that the ship had settled down or whether or not any liquids were leaking into the sea. According to trading data from LSEG, it is a 117-meter-long oil product tanker built in 2007. These small tankers are typically used for short trips.
Duqm Port, located on Oman's southwest coast, is a significant hub for the country's mining projects in oil and gas. The kingdom’s biggest single economic venture is its giant industrial zone of Duqm which includes a large refinery.