According to the official, the ship was last located 25 nautical miles south-southwest of Sagar Island, about 100 km from Kolkata. Seen here, waves crash on a beach in Visakhapatnam.
MV Bingo, a China-bound merchant vessel with 20 crewmembers, has lost contact with the ground staff following the cyclonic storm Phailin which swept coastal Odisha on Saturday night, the Coast Guard said on Sunday.
The Panama registered sea vessel left for China from the Sagar anchorage in West Bengal on October 11. According to a Coast Guard official, the ship was last located 25 nautical miles south-southwest of Sagar, about 100 km from Kolkata. It was carrying 8,000 tonnes of iron ore.
"Search and rescue mission is on to track MV Bingo. The rough weather has been hampering the mission but we hope to locate the vessel soon," the official said.
The Kolkata Port Trust officials say while they fear that the ship has sunk, its crew may have survived using life boats.
A Dornier aircraft and a hovercraft have been pressed into service to locate the vessel.
Cyclonic storm Phailin on Saturday night slammed India's east coast near Gopalpur in Odisha, triggering heavy rains and strong winds with speed reaching up to 200 km an hour.
Around 900,000 people were shifted to safety in coastal Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.