A distress call was received by the Coast Guard Operation Centre, West Bengal informing distress on board MV Lucnam near Sand Heads. The Vietnam-registered merchant vessel MV Lucnam with 30 Vietnamese crew was heading for Haldia with a cargo of 11000 tonnes ammonium phosphate and 2500 tonnes di-ammonium phosphate from Jethnajiang (China).

The distress call had intimated flooding in the ships’ two forward compartments while the vessel was approaching Hooghly river. On receipt of the distress message, a Dornier aircraft from 700 Squadron (CG), Kolkata was deployed along with two hovercraft. In addition, one Fast Patrol Vessel CGS Sucheta Kripalani was also inducted with diving and under water damage control team from Haldia. One more Coast Guard ship Jijabai was diverted from Orissa coast to assist CGS Sucheta Kripalani in rescue operation.

An emergency was declared onboard MV Lucnam when another leak was detected in the forward section of the ship and the master reported sinking of the vessel. The Coast Guard Ships Sucheta Kripalani and Jijabai rescued all the 30 crew members. The entire rescue operation was completed within one hour of declaration of serious emergency by the master of MV Lucnam.