11 rescued from sunken cargo ship in Hong Kong during Typhoon Pakhar's hit

HONG KONG - Eleven crew members of a sunken cargo ship were rescued in Hong Kong waters during severe tropical storm Pakhar's hit on Sunday, said the Government Flying Service (GFS) of China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The GFS was alerted by Hong Kong Maritime Rescue Coordination Center at 7 am local time that a vessel had been sinking about 64 nautical miles east of Hong Kong, with its 11 crew members reportedly waiting for rescue on the bridge deck.

The GFS sent out a Challenger 605 fixed wing plane with three crew members to the area in search of the vessel. The plane later found that the bow of the vessel was already submerged.

A Super Puma L2 helicopter with five crew members was then deployed, and rescued all the 11 crew members at around 9:40 am.

According to the GFS, 10 of the rescued were in stable condition with no injuries.

The other one suffered from minor injuries on both feet and was treated by the GFS. No further medical treatment was required.

The search area was located to the east of the severe tropical storm Pakhar, which triggered a No 8 Gale or Storm Signal in Hong Kong.

The GFS said the rescue area was affected by hurricane force winds with low cloud base and rough sea state. Its crew reported heavy rain with poor visibility down to 500 meters.

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