Mumbai:
The Indian Coast Guard today rescued 11 crew members of a merchant vessel which grounded near the Mumbai coast today.
"The coast guard has rescued 11 persons from 'MV Priyanka' which had drifted to shallow waters about 20 nautical miles from South of Mumbai," the Coast Guard said in a statement.
The agency received a distress call at around noon about grounding of a ship after which it launched a helicopter and a ship for the rescue operation.
"Soon the helicopter located the ship and rescued 11 crew members. Five other crew members managed to swim ashore using life rafts," the statement said, adding that the rescue operation was completed at 12:45 pm. The vessel was carrying 1900 metric tones of iron pellets.