The last message from the Devon Bay came at 9:26 p.m. on a Thursday. The crew said the hull had tilted badly and water was pouring in. Then nothing.
The Singapore-registered cargo ship was running from the Philippines to Guangdong province in southern China with 21 Filipino crew aboard. Its emergency position beacon later sent out an alarm. By the time the Hainan provincial search and rescue center passed the report to the Sansha branch at 0:46 a.m. on Friday, January 23, the ship was about 55 nautical miles northwest of Huangyan Dao, the shoal Beijing claims and the Philippines knows as Scarborough Shoal.
Sansha launched what China described as a multi-agency international operation. The People’s Liberation Army Southern Theater Command sent aircraft over the area. Two China Coast Guard vessels in the vicinity joined in, along with teams from the Transport Ministry’s Nanhai Rescue Bureau. Commercial ships registered in Liberia, Panama and Japan helped search too.
By 6 p.m. that day the coast guard had 17 Filipino crew members out of the water. Fifteen were in stable condition. Two were dead.
That leaves four men unaccounted for, and the coast guard said it would keep mobilizing forces to look for them. The rescued sailors were given food, medical checks and somewhere to rest.
At the Philippines’ request, the coast guard handed the 17 over to the Philippine Coast Guard at 2:43 p.m. on Sunday, in the waters where the ship went down.
What the Chinese accounts leave out is any explanation of why the ship rolled over. Nothing in them says whether weather, cargo or a mechanical fault was to blame, and the names of the dead and missing were not given.
Sources
- China hands over 17 Filipino sailors from shipwreck to Philippines
- China rescues 17 Filipinos after ship capsizes in South China Sea
- China hands over 17 Filipino sailors from shipwreck to Philippines
Sources
- China hands over 17 Filipino sailors from… | english.scio.gov.cn
- China rescues 17 Filipinos after ship capsizes in South China …
