40 missing after cattle ship sinks off Japan

TOKYO－Japan's Coast Guard rescued a survivor floating in a raft on Friday hours after finding an unconscious crew member in waters where a ship carrying thousands of cows from New Zealand capsized and is believed to have sunk during stormy weather, officials said.

Jay-nel Rosals, a 30-year-old deckhand and a Philippine national, was wearing a life jacket and floating in a raft in the waters north of the Amami Oshima island in the East China Sea, where rescuers have been looking for the Gulf Livestock 1 ship and its missing crew since it sent a distress signal early on Wednesday.

Earlier, rescuers found a man who was unconscious and floating face down about 120 kilometers northwest of the island. The man, whose nationality and crew status is unknown, was taken to a hospital but later pronounced dead, said Takahiro Yamada, a senior spokesman for the regional Coast Guard headquarters. He said rescuers also spotted dozens of cow carcasses floating in the area. So far, he said he was not aware of reports of carcasses washing ashore on the Japanese coast.

The 11,947-ton ship, its 43 crew and 5,800 cows left New Zealand in mid-August heading to Tangshan on China's eastern coast.

New Zealand officials said on Friday that they were temporarily suspending any new approvals for the export of live cows following the incident.

Another Filipino, 45-year-old Chief Officer Edvardo Sareno, was rescued late on Wednesday. Coast Guard video shows rescuers carefully maneuvering their boat in choppy waters to safely pluck Sareno out of the water. He told them the ship stalled when an engine stopped, then capsized after being hit by a powerful broadside wave and sank.

Officials quoted Sareno as saying that he put on a life jacket and jumped into the sea, and that he had not seen any other crew members in that time.

The total crew included 39 from the Philippines, two from New Zealand and two from Australia.

Typhoon Maysak

Rescuers in four boats and an aircraft, as well as divers, joined Friday's search operations. A bundle of orange rope and a life jacket carrying the ship's name were also recovered, according to a Coast Guard statement.

Typhoon Maysak was blowing by southern Japan at the time of the sinking. The ship's automated tracker showed it sailing in high winds of 107 kilometers per hour at its last known position, according to the ship-tracking website MarineTraffic.com.

"Our hearts go out to those onboard and their families at this time. We also express deep regret for the sad loss of the livestock on board," the ship's operator, Dubaibased Gulf Navigation Holdings PJSC, said in a statement. "We pray that there are other survivors."

Another powerful typhoon is approaching southern Japan over the weekend.

Agencies - Xinhua