Livestock carrier Gulf Livestock 1 sent a distress signal at 4.45am NZT yesterday. Photo / Vessel Finder
Livestock carrier Gulf Livestock 1 sent a distress signal at 4.45am NZT yesterday. Photo / Vessel Finder
KEY POINTS • Missing ship carrying 5800 cows and two Kiwis believed to have sank during typhoon • One person has been rescued after jumping to safety • The ship left Napier last month bound for China • MPI has temporarily suspended cattle livestock export applications.
Rescuers are searching for a livestock ship with more than 40 crew members, including two New Zealanders, that a survivor said sank during rough weather off a southern Japanese island.
The ship was sailing from Napier to China.
Marine Traffic shared this image of a map, showing the missing vessel's last moments before a typhoon struck south west Japan. Picture: MarineTrafficSource:Supplied
Japan's coast guard was on Thursday afternoon (NZ time) searching for Livestock carrier Gulf Livestock 1 carrying 43 crew members and 5800 cows that made a distress call off a southern Japanese island in seas roughened by a typhoon.
Japan's coastguard said it rescued one crew member, Sareno Edvarodo, a 45-year-old chief officer from the Philippines, while searching for the ship.
According to Edvarodo, the vessel lost an engine before it was hit by a wave and sank during rough weather, a coastguard spokeswoman said.
When the ship capsized, crew were instructed to put on lifejackets. Edvarodo said he jumped into the water and did not see any other crew before he was rescued.
The Gulf Livestock 1 departed Napier on August 14 and is now reported to be missing. Photo / Tony des Landes
Pictures provided by the coastguard showed a person in a lifejacket being hauled from choppy seas in darkness.
One person is pulled from the sea near where a live export ship has gone missing off the south coast of Japan. Photo / Japan Coast Guard
The ship sent a distress signal at 4.45am NZT yesterday in the East China Sea, an area being affected by Typhoon Maysak.
NHK World Japan reported that the Panamanian registered cargo ship issued the distress signal at 1.40am Wednesday Japan time from a ship about 185km west of Amami Oshima in southwest Japan.
Livestock carrier goes missing in the East China Sea
The GULF LIVESTOCK 1 has disappeared, probably hit by high waves & strong winds caused by typhoon #MAYSAK, our data shows. The search for the livestock carrier in load began as concern for the safety of 43 crew onboard rises pic.twitter.com/6H3yGOkUqr
The ship departed Napier on August 14 carrying 5867 cows and reportedly 43 crew members including two people from New Zealand, 39 from the Philippines, one from Australia and one from Singapore.
The ship was on route to the Port of Jingtang in Tangshan, China, with an estimated journey of approximately 17 days.
It was expected to arrive in China on September 3.
NHK World reported that shortly before 7pm Wednesday Japan time Japan's Defense Ministry said crew on a patrol plane spotted a lifeboat-like object in the waters near where the signal was sent and a person in a lifejacket nearby.
Livestock carrier Gulf Livestock 1 sent a distress signal at 4.45am NZT yesterday. Photo / Vessel Finder
New Zealand's Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor said he was informed of the distress call and search last night.
"I very much hope all the crew on board are safe. My thoughts are with their families, this will be a very difficult time for them as the search continues.
"Officials from MPI are working closely with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the exporter. I am awaiting an update on the situation."
Because it was an overseas incident, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs was the lead agency, a spokesperson said.
