Mangalore, November 27: A cargo vessel is feared drowned along with its six crew members in the turbulent sea off the coast of Lakshadweep on Sunday morning.
Naval ships and aircraft have launched a search operation amidst strong winds, sources said.
The cargo vessel 'MSV Al-Akthar' had left Mangalore Old Port on November 24.
Shankara, the captain, had anchored the vessel on Saturday evening nearly half nautical mail away from Amini island of Lakshadweep. Amini island lies 304 km southwest of Mangalore.
The owner of the vessel Mustafa Shafi from Bengre Kasba, said that captain contacted him over mobile phone at 5:40 am today and pleaded to take immediate measures to rescue him and other crew members as the vessel was in danger.
The rescuers, who rushed to the spot on speedboats, after half an hour search, declared that the cargo vessel was missing.
Mustafa said that the 50% of the goods on-board the 'MSV Al-Akthar' had been unloaded on Saturday evening to a small boat, as the vessel cannot reach the shore. The captain had dropped three anchors and waiting for another boat to unload remaining goods today. However, the sea suddenly turned turbulent and strong winds began to blow, he said.
He said that apart from Calicut based captain, there were five Gujarati crew members on the vessel.
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