As their ship began sinking quickly into the ocean, 9 crew members onboard a cargo ship in Taiwan realised they didn’t have sufficient time to succeed in their life raft.
They determined to leap off the boat into sea, holding on to one another in teams.
On Thursday afternoon, Taiwan’s coast guard introduced that one of many teams – made up of 4 Myanmar nationals – had been discovered. The captain of the ship was in a while Friday discovered useless and 4 others are nonetheless lacking.
That they had all been engaged on the Tanzania-flagged Fu Shun, which capsized after Hurricane Gaemi made landfall on the island.
The vessel capsized at about 05:45 native time on Thursday (21:45 GMT Wednesday).
The 9 Myanmar nationals mentioned they determined to seperate into two teams – one in every of 5, and one other of 4.
All of them have been carrying life jackets, however the survivors mentioned they’d watched as three of their colleagues in different group, had their jackets swept away by excessive waves.
Search and rescue personnel mentioned they’d later discovered the physique of the ship’s captain at about 06:55 on Friday. The opposite 4 in his group are nonetheless lacking.
Locals discovered two of the survivors swept up on a seaside in Kaohsiung at about 16:00 and introduced them to a police station, whereas the Taiwanese Coast Guard rescued the opposite two at one other a part of town’s coast later within the night.
One of many survivors mentioned he had swum backwards to retrieve a waist bag containing his passport, earlier than swimming “with all his life” to succeed in the shore.
One other burst out crying after calling his household – he later advised the coast guard that his spouse and mom had thought he was useless after studying the information on Thursday.
Officers had earlier mentioned the excessive waves and tough waters have been hampering rescue efforts.
Images shared by the coast guard present the survivors clad in ponchos and towels for heat, whereas coast guard employees are likely to accidents on their legs and arms.
Eight different cargo ships carrying 79 crew members are nonetheless stranded within the stormy waters. The crew are protected, mentioned Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council, including that it’s making effort to forestall potential oil spills.
Gaemi was downgraded to a tropical storm on Thursday night, after leaving a path of destruction in Taiwan and the Philippines and killing at the least 21 individuals.
The storm made its second landfall in China’s southeastern Fujian province on Thursday night.
Practically 300,000 individuals have been evacuated and public transport suspended throughout jap China on Friday.
