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Coast guard saves 8 men, ship's owner still missing

The Kinmen coast guard yesterday morning rescued eight Chinese crew members of a vessel that ran aground earlier in the day amid rough seas, but the owner of the vessel remained unaccounted for yesterday afternoon.

The freighter ran aground in waters east of Taiwan's frontline island of Kinmen yesterday at around 3:30am.

The owner of the Zhe-Cang-Ji No. 20 (浙蒼機二十號), identified as Huang Dingsang (黃定磉), and three crew members then jumped into a life raft and sailed toward Kinmen to seek assistance.

The raft capsized in the rough seas during the voyage. The three crew members were able to swim to a reef near Kinmen, but Huang went missing.

After receiving relevant information, Kinmen coast guard authorities immediately dispatched a patrol boat to rescue the crew. Several Kinmen fishing boats were also mobilized to join the rescue mission.

The three crewmen on the reef and the five other sailors aboard the freighter were all rescued by 8:30am.

According to the surviving crew members, they all came from the southeastern China province of Zhejiang. They said the 580-tonne freighter was transporting 252.9 tonnes of plywood to Guangzhou in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong when it ran aground.

Although the Kinmen coast guardsmen offered the rescued sailors hot meals, most of them said they didn't have an appetite as they were worrying about the fate of their missing shipowner.

Members of the Kinmen coast guard, Taiwan navy's Hailung marine corps stationed in Kinmen as well as a Kinmen maritime rescue team continued to brave high waves in their search for the missing Chinese shipowner.

The Kinmen coast guard said that no signs of an oil slick from the ill-fated Chinese cargo ship have been detected so far.

"We have asked the Kinmen county government's Environmental Protection Bureau and Harbor Affairs Bureau to assist in draining fuel oil from the freighter," an official with the Kinmen coast guard team said. The team was also seeking the assistance from a private maritime rescue association to help drain fuel oil.
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