Livestock ship with 42 crew said to have sunk in seas
Vessel was carrying 5,800 cows, had sent distress call before going down
Tokyo, Sept. 3: Japanese rescuers were searching Thursday for a livestock ship with 42 crew members on board that a survivor said sank during rough weather a day earlier off a southern Japanese island, the coast guard said.
The Filipino crew member was rescued late Wednesday after Japanese navy P-3C surveillance aircraft spotted him wearing a life vest and waving while he was bobbing in the water.
The man, who is in good health, told rescuers the ship capsised before sinking, said spokesman Yuichiro Higashi at the Japanese coast guard’s regional headquarters conducting the search.
The 11,947-ton Gulf Livestock 1 ship was carrying 5,800 cows west of the western coast of Amami Oshima in the East China Sea when it sent a distress call early Wednesday.
The cause of the distress was not immediately known, but the weather was rough in the area due to Typhoon Maysak.
The typhoon has since passed the area and the weather during the ongoing search is fine, Higashi said. The ship’s other crew included 38 from the Philippines, two from New Zealand and another two from Australia.
The ship, owned by Gulf Navigation Holding based in the United Arab Emirates, left the port of Nepier in northeastern New Zealand in midAugust and was on its way to the port of Tangshan on China's eastern coast.
TYPHOON HITS SOUTH KOREA WITH FLOODING
Seoul, Sept. 3: A powerful typhoon ripped through South Korea's southern and eastern coasts with tree-snapping winds and flooding rains on Thursday, knocking out power to more than 270,000 homes and leaving at least one person dead.
With winds blowing up to 126 kilometres (78 miles) per hour, Typhoon Maysak was offshore east of the city of Sokcho on Thursday morning and heading toward North Korea, said South Korea’s weather agency. It expected Maysak to weaken to a tropical storm within hours. North Korea's state TV showed widespread flooding in the eastern coastal cities of Wonsan and Tanchon, but the country didn't immediately report any casualties.
More than 2,400 South Koreans evacuated their homes due to the typhoon, which damaged or flooded dozens of homes and vehicles, ripped off signboards and toppled scores of trees, utility poles and lampposts. A woman in the southern city of Busan died after being injured by shattered window glass.
Four nuclear power reactors near Busan automatically shut down because of electricity supply issues, but no leak of radioactive materials was detected, South Korea's Ministry of the Interior and Safety said.