39 Pinoy Seafarers on Board: Cargo Ship Carrying 43 Crew and 5,800 Cows Missing in Typhoon

Cargo Ship Carrying 43 Crew and 5,800 Cows Missing in Typhoon
Masumi Suga September 2, 2020 https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-03/japan-finds-one-durin...

Japan is continuing to search for a missing cargo vessel carrying 43 crew and 5,800 head of cattle that sent a distress signal early Tuesday from the East China Sea as a typhoon swept through the region.

The country’s coast guard rescued a Filipino seafarer Tuesday night and has dispatched four patrol vessels and three planes as part of the ongoing search, a spokeswoman for the agency said by phone. A distress signal from the Gulf Livestock 1 vessel was received when the ship was about 185 kilometers (115 miles) west of Japan’s Amami island.

The crew included 39 Filipinos, and two people each from Australia and New Zealand, according to the Japanese coast guard. The vessel was headed to China from New Zealand.

A rubber boat has also been spotted but officials haven’t confirmed if it belonged to the missing vessel, the AFP reported, citing the Japan coast guard. The Gulf Livestock vessel last signaled its position on Sept. 1 at 11:35 a.m., according to shipping data compiled by Bloomberg.

Typhoon Maysak was expected to make landfall early Thursday in South Korea and may be similar in strength to 2003’s Typhoon Maemi, according to the country’s Prime Minister.