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Reuters
A sailor was saved by the Japanese coastguard
The Japanese coast guard has rescued a person from a freighter believed to have sunk during a typhoon with more than 40 crew members and 6,000 head of cattle on board.
The sailor, who was found adrift with a life jacket, said the boat had capsized.
Gulf Livestock 1 sent a distress signal from the East China Sea after being hit by Typhoon Maysak.
The search for the rest of the crew and the ship continues, but so far no more survivors have been found.
The freighter’s crew includes 39 sailors from the Philippines, two from New Zealand and two from Australia.
According to the Japanese coast guard, the rescued man is one of the Filipino crew, who said the ship’s engine failed before it capsized after being hit by a wave.
Sareno Eduarodo, a 45-year-old chief officer, said the crew had been instructed to put on life jackets and that he jumped into the water.
He said he did not see any other crew members before being rescued.
The Gulf Livestock 1 left New Zealand on August 14 for China, and the journey is expected to last 17 days, the New Zealand Foreign Ministry said.
On Wednesday night, the ship sent a distress call from waters west of Amami Oshima Island in southwestern Japan.
The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said its consulate in the Japanese city of Osaka was “monitoring the situation and coordinating” with authorities.
The Japanese coast guard “is launching a second search and rescue mission ahead of the expected incoming typhoon,” it said in a press release.
Liezel Pitogo, 38, last spoke with her husband Lindon, a sailor on the ship, on Tuesday night.
He said they were traveling to China, but were a bit worried about the weather, he told the BBC, speaking from Quezon province in the Philippines.
“His phone was inaccessible on Wednesday,” Pitogo said. “I thought it was just a problem with the erratic signal when they are at sea, but I saw a Facebook post from a sailor’s wife about a missing cargo ship, so I started contacting and asking some of the other wives “.
Both Australia and New Zealand said they were providing consular assistance to the families of their crew members.
The Gulf Livestock 1 is a 139 m (450 ft) Panamanian flag cargo ship built in 2002.
Strong winds and torrential rains from the typhoon hitting the region are hampering the ship’s search effort.
After breaking through the East China Sea, Typhoon Maysak, named after a Cambodian tree, made landfall early Thursday in the South Korean port city of Busan.
At least one person has died, more than 2,200 people have been evacuated to shelters and around 120,000 homes were without power in the affected region.
