Ship with nine crew sinks off Taiwan …as typhoon hits
Recue officials in Taiwan are searching for a cargo ship with nine crew members that has sunk off its southern coast.
The Tanzania-flagged freighter had been off the southern port city of Kaohsiung when Taiwan was struck by Typhoon Gaemi.
The storm has also brought relentless rain to the Philippines, where a tanker carrying close to 1.5 million litres of industrial fuel has capsized.
Sixteen crew members of the Philippine-flagged MT Terra Nova have been rescued while one remains missing, Transportation Secretary, Jaime Bautista, said.
Typhoon Gaemi, which made landfall on Taiwan’s east coast on Wednesday, has killed three people and injured hundreds more on the island, officials said.
Before hitting Taiwan, Gaemi exacerbated rainy conditions in the Philippines, where eight people have died. It is expected to make a second landfall in mainland China after passing through Taiwan.
Taiwan’s Coastguard Administration said Fu Shun, the freighter that capsized off its coast, had nine Myanmar nationals on board.
They added that three other foreign vessels had run aground during the typhoon, but were safe.
In the Philippines, the tanker that had capsized in Manila Bay, was heading for the central city of Iloilo when it sank. It left an oil spill stretching several kilometres, authorities said.
—BBC
