#bodies #shipwreck #typhoon #South #China #Sea
Twelve bodies were found after a shipwreck in the South China Sea over the weekend left more than two dozen crew members missing, Chinese authorities said on Monday.
The announcement came days after a machine vessel suffered significant damage and broke in two 160 nautical miles (296 kilometers) southwest of Hong Kong during a typhoon.
“At 3:30 p.m. on July 4, rescue workers found and recovered 12 bodies suspected of drowning in an area about 50 nautical miles southwest of where the ship sank,” the Guangdong Maritime Search said and rescue center.
“The relevant departments are intensifying work on identity confirmation.”
According to Chinese state media company CGTN, a total of 30 crew members left the ship Fujing 001, which is used for the construction of offshore wind turbines, after its anchor chain snapped in the typhoon.
The offshore wind farm project’s floating crane was classified as vulnerable by a surveillance system on Saturday afternoon and later sank, state broadcaster CCTV said.
According to Chinese state media, three people were rescued on Saturday and another in the early hours of Monday, with 26 still missing.
Rescuers have expanded the scope of their search to include the wreckage site, with medical personnel dispatched to each rescue ship to provide assistance as quickly as possible to any crew member found, CCTV said.
Earlier footage provided by Hong Kong authorities showed a person being flown into a helicopter as waves smashed the deck of the half-submerged ship below.
The three survivors said other crew members may have been swept away by waves before the first helicopter arrived, according to a Hong Kong government statement.
– “Difficult and dangerous” –
Typhoon Chaba formed in the central part of the South China Sea and made landfall in south China’s Guangdong province on Saturday.
Rescue workers in Hong Kong were briefed on the incident at 7:25 a.m. local time (Friday 23:25 GMT) and found the vessel near central Chaba, where rough weather conditions and nearby wind farms made the operation “more difficult and dangerous”.
The ship’s location recorded winds of 144 kilometers (89 miles) per hour and waves that were 10 meters (33 feet) high, authorities said.
Seven planes, 246 boats and 498 fishing vessels have been dispatched to search for the remaining missing persons, the mainland Chinese authorities said in a statement Monday.
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