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TOKYO: A ship carrying 43 crew members and nearly 6,000 head of cattle from New Zealand to China sank after losing an engine in stormy weather in the East China Sea, the only rescued crewman said on Thursday (September 3). to the coast guard of Japan.
Gulf Livestock 1 sent out a distress call from west of Amami Oshima Island in southwestern Japan on Wednesday as the region experienced high winds, storm surge and torrential rains from Typhoon Maysak as it headed toward the Korean Peninsula.
Japan’s coast guard said it rescued a crew member, Sareno Edvarodo, a 45-year-old chief officer from the Philippines, on Wednesday night while searching for the ship.
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 said 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.
Gulf Livestock 1 departed Napier in New Zealand on August 14 with 5,867 head of cattle and 43 crew on board, bound for Jingtang Port in Tangshan, China. The trip was expected to last about 17 days, the New Zealand Foreign Ministry told Reuters.
The crew consisted of 39 people from the Philippines, two from New Zealand and two from Australia, the coast guard said.
A Filipino crew member believed to be aboard Gulf Livestock 1 is rescued by a Japanese Coast Guard ship in the East China Sea after Typhoon Maysak. (Photo: Japan Coast Guard, 10th Regional Coast Guard HQ via Reuters)
The 139-meter Panamanian-flagged vessel was built in 2002 and the registered owner is Amman-based Rahmeh Compania Naviera, according to data from Refinitiv Eikon. The ship’s manager is Hijazi & Ghosheh.
New Zealand’s animal rights organization SAFE said the tragedy demonstrated the risks of the live animal export trade.
“These cows should never have been in the sea,” said campaign manager Marianne Macdonald.
“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.”
Last year, the New Zealand government launched a review of the country’s live animal export trade, worth around NZ $ 54 million (US $ 37 million) in 2019, after thousands of animals were exported. from New Zealand and Australia died in transit.
A conditional ban on the export of live cattle is one of several options being considered, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said.
