VISAKHAPATNAM: Two crew members were rescued after a Panama-flagged bulk carrier carrying 24 people sank in the Bay of Bengal, about 230 nautical miles off Paradip coast of Odisha, with the Indian Coast Guard and Eastern Naval Command (ENC) intensifying search-and-rescue operations for the remaining 22 crew members.The two crew members were rescued from life rafts by MT Aisopos, a commercial vessel operating in the vicinity, after an Indian Navy P-8I maritime surveillance aircraft located the liferafts during the search-and-rescue mission.The operation was launched following a distress alert from MV Ocean Winner, which sank on Saturday while carrying iron ore from Odisha. The vessel had 20 Chinese nationals, three Myanmarese, and one Bangladeshi on board when it sank.The P-8I aircraft was rapidly redeployed from a surveillance sortie for the search-and-rescue mission and coordinated with the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) at Sri Vijaya Puram. The vessel was reported to be approximately 700 km east of Visakhapatnam.The Indian Coast Guard has deployed its ships Varad and Anmol for the search operation, while another vessel, Vijit, has been deployed from Sri Vijaya Puram to augment the search efforts. The three ships are conducting surface searches for the remaining crew members. No details about the exact location of the sunken vessel have been disclosed.