2 Indians dead, 12 missing as ship sinks off Iraq

Search was still on for the remaining 12 till late Monday evening, said a spokesperson from the Dubai consulate. The vessel, Sri Krishna Sagar, believed to be carrying tyres and some general cargo, capsized on December 27 due to bad weather and rough sea, said a spokesperson from the Dubai Consulate. The vessel had left Mumbai in the last week of December and had reached Hamriyah Port at Dubai on December 24. It then proceeded to Basra.

Of the 16 crew members, the bodies of two have been found, while two others have been rescued. . The two survivors, Naran Bhai Tandel, from village Kakhwadi, Valsad, and Bhagwan Bhai Tandel, from Dandi Mahadev Falia village, Valsad have been sent to Cairo, Egypt via Fujairah. They will return to India on January 10.

The first body, identified to be of Dalsukh Vithal was found on December 28. The bodies have been handed over to the Indian Embassy at Bahrain.

They were rescued and airlifted on December 28 by a Norwegian Tanker called Geilo, which was sailing 50 miles south of the Basra Oil Terminal. Since Geilo, was supposed to reach a port in Cairo, they took the survivors along with them, said the spokesperson from the Indian embassy in Cairo. Since their documents and identity, at the time of rescue was not in place the two survivors could not be brought ashore in Fujairah.

Indian diplomats said the USS Howard and coalition naval forces who were on maritime security operations in the North Arabia Gulf, were the fisrt to receive a distress call from the vessel after which they added support to the search and rescue.

The sea was rough and the cargo vessel had already broken and sunk, before it could be pulled out by a helicopter.