Japanese coast guards find body of crew member in capsized cargo ship search
Tokyo, Sep 4 (efe-epa).- Japanese coast guards searching for survivors in the area where a livestock cargo ship with around 40 crew members capsized in stormy seas have found one body.
A coast guard spokesman said the deceased, whose nationality was not disclosed, was found floating in a lifejacket around 120 kilometers from the island of Amami Oshima, a remote island in the southwest of Japan.
The crew comprised 39 Filipinos, two New Zealanders and two Australians, according to local media reports.
A Filipino crew member was pulled alive from the water early Wednesday and is the only confirmed survivor of the accident so far.
He was transferred to a hospital on Amami Oshima, where he told authorities that he was the one to send the distress call early Wednesday when the cargo vessel ran into trouble in rough seas as Typhoon Maysak swept through the region.
He told authorities that the Gulf Livestock1 lost power in one of its engines and capsized when a strong wave hit the vessel side on.
The vessel was transporting almost 6,000 cattle from New Zealand to China when it sank around 185km off the west coast of Amami Oshima.
Coast guards discovered the bodies of a number of livestock in the area they retrieved the deceased crew member, the spokesman said.
GulfLivestock1 was built in 2012 and measures 134 meters in length.
Maysak drove a path over the Korean peninsula and caused damage in South Korea, where one person died in the adverse weather conditions. EFE-EPA
ahg/jt
