Coast Guard Dornier aircraft on routine surveillance off Mumbai coast received a distress message regarding ditching of one Pawan Hans Helicopter with 02 crew onboard in position 80 nautical miles west of Mumbai inside Offshore Development Area. The Coast Guard aircraft proceeded towards the position and simultaneously relayed the information to Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Ship Subhadra Kumari Chauhan and other vessels operating in the area. Within a short span of time, one Coast Guard Dornier, 01 ICG Ship, 02 IN Ships and 03 Offshore Support Vessels (OSV) reached the area and commenced search for the crew. The distress message was also received at the same time by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (Mumbai) who promptly commenced coordination of the search and rescue efforts with all agencies. During the night 01 ICG Ship from Mumbai and 01 ICG ship with integral helo from Porbandar have been sailed to augment the search efforts. Additional OSV’s have also been pressed into service by ONGC for the search. Some debris of the aircraft have been recovered.
Presently, 03 ICG Ships, 01 Coast Guard Dornier, 03 IN Ships, 05 OSV’s and 01 Diving Support Vessel are undertaking search operation in the area for survivors.