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HONG KONG – Search and rescue officials recovered 12 bodies from the area where a Chinese ship was split in half and sunk by a typhoon, while a fourth sailor was rescued, authorities announced Monday.
The engineering vessel Fujing001 and its 30 crew members were working on wind power projects when on Saturday the vessel was caught in Typhoon Chaba and broke in half.
The Guangdong Maritime Search and Rescue Center of China said the identities of the bodies were still being confirmed and that the rescued sailor was in “normal physical condition.”
The Hong Kong Government Flying Service rescued the first three survivors.
Cyrus Szeto, an air crew officer who took part in the search on Saturday, told RTHK on Monday that the rescue was extremely difficult and that the team had to improvise their tactics.
“The boat was very tilted, so there was no room to stand,” Szeto said. “We usually lifted each survivor one by one, but since there was no time, we lifted the two survivors, myself included, together at the same time.”
Wing Li, a helicopter pilot of the service, told RTHK that they would not give up the search and rescue mission.
“There were previous cases that managed to recover survivors after a period of time like this case,” Li said. “So we’ll do our best.”
The scope of the search and rescue has expanded to the northeast, Li said, adding that it was “difficult to accurately calculate the possible location of the missing crew members” as the wind continued to change. rumb.
Vic Chang of Taipei contributed to this report.