Second crew member of capsized ship rescued near Japan

A second crew member from the cattle boat that capsized en route from New Zealand to China off the coast of Japan was found today, the Japanese coast guard said.

The coast guard said Jaynel Rosals, 20, from the Philippines, was found on a life raft calling for help 2 kilometers from a small Japanese island.

Rescuers are searching for the 41 remaining crew members of the ship believed to have sunk in a typhoon.

Gulf Livestock 1, carrying a cargo of nearly 6,000 cows, issued a distress call in the early hours of Wednesday morning from a position 115 miles (185 kilometers) west of the Japanese island of Amami Oshima.

Japan’s coast guard sent planes and rescue boats to search for the ship and yesterday the 45-year-old Filipino first officer of the ship was found.

Dramatic photos and videos released by the coast guard showed the man floating in the dark in an orange life jacket and being hoisted into a boat on a rope as rescuers battled the violent waves.

They rushed him to a large boat, where coast guard personnel in surgical masks and gloves wrapped him in blankets.

“Water,” said the man, who identified himself as a Filipino in the video.

“Thank you, thank you very much. Am I the only one? No other?” I ask.

The man told rescuers that he had put on a life jacket and jumped into the sea after a warning announcement on board, when powerful Typhoon Maysak was passing through the area.

He said one of the ship’s engines stopped and a wave capsized the ship, which then sank, the coast guard said in a statement.

Typhoon Haishen was in the Pacific Northwest, traversing the East China Sea into South Korea.

Three coast guard ships, five aircraft and specially trained divers are involved in the search and rescue operation.

Japan is currently in its annual typhoon season, and a second massive storm is on its way to hit the same area around Sunday, according to local forecasters, which could limit how long the coast guard can continue to search.

The ship was carrying a crew of 39 Filipinos, two New Zealanders and two Australians, and Australia-based Australasian Global Exports commissioned it to transport the cattle.

He was reportedly traveling from Napier in New Zealand to the Chinese port of Tangshan.