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TOKYO – More than 40 crew members went missing after a ship carrying cattle from New Zealand to China sank in stormy weather in the East China Sea, the Japanese coast guard said on Thursday.
So far, a member of the Gulf Livestock 1 crew had been rescued. Three boats, four planes and two divers were involved in the search, the coast guard said.
The ship, carrying nearly 6,000 head of cattle, sent a distress call from west of Amami Oshima Island in southwestern Japan on Wednesday when Typhoon Maysak hit the area with strong winds and storm surge.
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Sareno Edvarodo, a 45-year-old chief from the Philippines, was rescued Wednesday night, Japan’s coast guard said.
As of Thursday night, he was still the only person rescued so far, a coast guard official said, adding that the bodies of some cattle had been recovered.
The crew of 43 consisted of 39 from the Philippines, two from New Zealand and two from Australia, the coast guard said.
According to Edvarodo, the boat lost an engine before being hit by a wave and capsized, a Coast Guard spokeswoman said.
When the ship capsized, the crew was instructed to don life jackets. Edvarodo told the coast guard that he jumped into the water and did not see any other crew members before being rescued.
Photographs provided by the Coast Guard showed a person in a life jacket pulled out of a rough sea in the dark.
The Philippine government said it was coordinating with the Japanese coastguard in the search.
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Typhoon Maysak made landfall in South Korea on Thursday, bringing strong winds, and at least two people were killed in the southern city of Busan.
Another storm, Typhoon Haishen, was brewing in southern Japan and is expected to hit the Korean coast on Sunday or Monday.
Live cattle export in the spotlight
The Gulf Livestock 1 left Napier in New Zealand on August 14 with a cargo of 5,867 head of cattle bound for the port of Jingtang in Tangshan, China. The trip was expected to last about 17 days, New Zealand Foreign Ministry officials told Reuters.
The 139-meter (450-foot) Panamanian-flagged vessel was built in 2002 and the registered owner is Amman-based Rahmeh Compania Naviera SA, according to data from Refinitiv Eikon. The ship’s manager is Hijazi & Ghosheh Co.
Calls to the owner and manager went unanswered.
The young cows were exported by Australia-based Australasian Global Exports, which specializes in the export of live animals and owns quarantine facilities in China.
The cows were worth around 20,000 yuan each, said a manager at AGE’s subsidiary, Beijing Muhuayuan International Trade Co Ltd.
New Zealand animal rights organization SAFE said the disaster showed the risks of the live animal export trade.
“These cows should never have been in the sea,” said campaign manager Marianne Macdonald.
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“This is a real crisis, and our thoughts are with the families of the 43 crew members who are missing with the ship. But questions remain, including why this trade is allowed to continue.”
China has imported more than 46,000 head of cattle from New Zealand so far this year, according to data from Chinese customs, mainly to supply the country’s expanding dairy farms.
Last year New Zealand launched a review of its live animal export trade, worth around NZ $ 54 million ($ 37 million) in 2019, after thousands of animals exported from New Zealand and Australia died in transit.
The New Zealand Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) said it had temporarily suspended applications for the export of live cattle after the Gulf Livestock 1 disappeared.
