Two Myanmar sailors being taken cared of by Taiwanese Coast Guard after their Tanzania-flagged ship sank near Kaohsiung during Typhoon Gaemi. - AFP
TAIPEI: Four sailors from a cargo ship that sank off the coast of Taiwan during Typhoon Gaemi were still missing on Friday (July 26), authorities said, after finding a fourth survivor as well as the body of the freighter's captain.
Stormy weather in the wake of the typhoon sank the Tanzania-flagged vessel Fu-Shun about 35km (22 miles) from shore, with its nine crew members from Myanmar abandoning ship wearing life jackets, authorities said on Thursday.
Rescue efforts were hindered by terrible weather conditions, but by evening, three crew members were found on land, prompting rescue workers to expand their search in case the remaining six had managed to reach the shores of southern Kaohsiung.
On Friday, the Ocean Affairs Council said in a statement that a fourth survivor was found, while "a body was found on the beach" in Kaohsiung city.
The other surviving sailors identified the dead man "as the captain of Fu-Shun. Four crew members of the ship are still missing," the council said, adding the search was ongoing.
The National Fire Agency later confirmed that the fourth surviving crew member had swam ashore.
Taiwanese authorities were also working to retrieve 79 crew members on board eight other cargo ships "stranded" off the island's southwestern coast.
"The rescue work is not over yet... all units continue to work hard," Kuan Bi-ling, head of the Ocean Affairs Council, said in a Facebook post on Friday.
She added that rescuers encountered five-metre (16-foot) waves and strong gusts, making it challenging to get near the stranded ships.
But Kuan clarified that "all people and ships are safe".
Gaemi, which made landfall in Taiwan early Thursday, was the strongest storm to make a direct hit on the typhoon-prone island in eight years, officials from the weather administration said.
At least five people were killed, and hundreds were injured.
By Thursday evening, the storm had moved to China, but heavy rains continued to batter Taiwan's southwestern coast on Friday, causing flash floods in the Yunlin, Chiayi and Tainan regions. - AFP
