Mumbai: The Indian Navy rescued 20 people from a drifting vessel off the Mumbai coast early Monday after receiving a distress signal, an official said.

The vessel, Jindal Kamakshi, with 20 onboard, was 40 nautical miles from Mumbai harbour and 25 nautical miles off Vasai coast, and sent distress message around mid-night.

One Seaking helicopter was launched and a ship was also despatched to provide assistance.

With extremely bad weather conditions prevailing in and around Mumbai, at around 7.45 a.m. on Monday, the Seaking helicopter launched a mission to rescue the crew to INS Shikra, the naval base at Colaba.

"The sea is very rough and visibility is just one nautical mile," a navy spokesperson said.

The helicopter first rescued 19 crew members of the ship, and the Master of the ship, who had stayed back, was rescued later.

(IANS)