20 people rescued from ship stranded in Arabian Sea  

Twenty crewmen on board a merchant ship stranded in the Arabian Sea were rescued in an operation in the wee hours of Monday.

The vessel, Tridevi Prem, had been flooded following heavy rain and got stranded off Mangalore port in the Arabian Sea.

Indian Coast Guard officials said an alert was received from the ship, a dredger, late on Sunday night after its deck got flooded. Coast Guard ship Amritya was immediately rushed with a rescue team to help the crew.

"We got out 13 crew members in a life boat around 2.30 a.m. The operation was undertaken in extremely inclement and rough sea conditions," said an official.

Another seven personnel were rescued by the New Mangalore Port Trust Tug Ocean Esteem.

Officials said repair of the abandoned vessel had commenced.