A Panama-flagged cargo ship carrying 24 crew members sank in the Bay of Bengal off Odisha on Saturday. While two sailors were found alive on a life raft on Saturday night, a massive search operation is on to locate the 22 other sailors at sea.The Panama-flagged vessel, MV Ocean Winner, lost communication with the base, triggering a major search and rescue operation by the Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy.The Coast Guard said the ship was carrying 20 Chinese, three Myanmar nationals and one Bangladeshi crew member.The Indian Coast Guard said it received information regarding the loss of communication. The vessel sank around 240 nautical miles from the Paradip coast in Odisha, officials said.The ship had left the Odisha coast on Friday and was carrying iron ore bound for Singapore. The Coast Guard received information about the loss of communication with MV Ocean Winner before the vessel sank, officials said.News agency PTI cited an unnamed police officer saying “authorities were initially unsure how many crew members had been rescued”.Following the loss of communication and sinking of the vessel, the Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy launched a joint rescue operation.Other vessels in the vicinity have also been alerted and asked to assist in the search for the missing crew members. The operation is focused on locating the remaining crew and establishing their positions.The exact circumstances that led to the vessel sinking have not yet been established.