TOKYO: Rescuers in Japan were searching on Thursday for a ship carrying 43 crew and nearly 6,000 cattle feared sunk after it sent a distress signal during stormy weather in the East China Sea.
Japan’s coastguard said one person had so far been found in a search involving four vessels and several planes. The rescued crew member, 45-year-old Filipino Sareno Edvarodo, told the coastguard the Gulf Livestock 1, a 139-metre Panamanian-flagged vessel, capsized after losing an engine.
The cargo ship sent a distress call from the west of Amami Oshima island in southwestern Japan on Wednesday as the region experienced strong winds, heavy seas and torrential rain from Typhoon Maysak as it headed towards the Korean Peninsula.
Japan’s coastguard said P-3C surveillance aircraft spotted Edvarodo, who was the ship’s chief officer, on Wednesday night. He was wearing a life vest and waving while bobbing up and down in the water.
Engine lost
According to Edvarodo, who is able to walk and in good health, the ship lost an engine before it was hit by a wave and capsized, a coastguard spokeswoman said. When the ship capsized, the crew were instructed to put on lifejackets. Edvarodo said he jumped into the water and did not see any other crew members before he was rescued.
The crew included 39 people from the Philippines, two from New Zealand and two from Australia, the coastguard said.
The Gulf Livestock 1 left Napier in New Zealand on 14 August with 5,867 cattle and 43 crew, bound for the port of Jingtang in Tangshan, China. The journey was expected to take about 17 days, New Zealand’s foreign ministry told Reuters news agency.