Ships searching in the choppy waters between South Korea and Japan have rescued at least 14 of the 22 crew members of a cargo ship that went down early Wednesday.
South Korean officials said nine of them were still unconscious, but no deaths were immediately confirmed. The crew members would be airlifted to Japan for treatment, they said.
South Korean and Japanese coast guard vessels and aircraft, as well as two commercial cargo ships, were searching for the eight missing crew members, but efforts were hampered by strong winds and waves, according to South Korean officials.
The Japanese coast guard confirmed the rescue of at least 13 crew members, five of whom were Chinese nationals, and said they were still alive.
According to Japanese coast guard spokesperson Shinya Kitahara, the 6,551-ton Jin Tian sank about three and a half hours after sending a distress call at around 11:15 p.m. Tuesday in Japan’s exclusive economic zone.
The Hong Kong-registered vessel, which was carrying lumber, went down about 160 kilometres (100 miles) southwest of Nagasaki, Japan, and about 150 kilometres (93 miles) south of South Korea’s Jeju island.
According to Jeju island coast guard officials, the captain lasts communicated with the coast guard via satellite phone around 2:41 a.m., saying crew members would abandon the ship.
According to Jeju’s coast guard, six crew members were picked up by South Korean coast guard vessels, five by a cargo ship, and three by Japanese aircraft.
According to South Korean and Japanese officials, 14 of the crew members are Chinese, with the remaining eight coming from Myanmar. According to maritime transport websites, the vessel departed Malaysia’s Port Klang on December 3 for South Korea’s Incheon port.
According to a July 2022 filing by the parent company to China’s National Equities Exchange and Quotations, the ship is owned by Long Bright Shipping Limited, a Hong Kong-registered company that is a subsidiary of Shenzhen Shekou Shipping Transportation Co., Ltd. According to the filing, the Jin Tian was used as collateral for a loan that was eventually repaid.
During the weeklong Lunar New Year holiday, calls to a number listed for Shenzhen Shekou Shipping Transportation in mainland China went unanswered on Wednesday.
Officials in South Korea did not immediately say whether the nine unconscious people were likely to survive their injuries if they weren’t already dead. According to them, the five other crew members who were rescued were either conscious when they were discovered or regained consciousness after being rescued.
According to Kitahara, the cause of the ship’s sinking was unknown at the time, and there was no evidence that it collided with another vessel. He claimed that the arrival of Japanese patrol boats and aircraft was hampered by bad weather following the sinking.
A strong wind warning was issued for the area earlier on Wednesday, according to Jeju’s coast guard officials, but it was later lifted. As of 7 a.m., winds were blowing at around 16 meters (yards) per second in the area, creating waves 3 to 4 meters (yards) high.
According to the Japanese coast guard, the water in the area was still rough and around 14 degrees Celsius.
