A violent tropical storm within the South China Sea has destroyed an engineering ship, with greater than two dozen crew members lacking in waters off Hong Kong, authorities stated on Saturday.
Three crew had been rescued, and search operations had been persevering with at sea about 300 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of the town after the catastrophe attributable to Hurricane Chaba, the Hong Kong Authorities Flying Service stated.
The storm skirted Hong Kong itself, however introduced heavy rain and robust winds, disrupting public transport and forcing many companies to shut.
Chaba has since weakened and was set to make landfall in China’s Guangdong province on Saturday afternoon.
What do we all know in regards to the accident and rescue operations?
The stricken vessel was 160 nautical miles (296 km) southwest of Hong Kong when it “suffered substantial harm and broke into two items,” the flying service stated.
It stated it had been notified of the incident at 7:25 a.m. native time (2325 GMT/UTC Friday).
The 30-member crew deserted ship, it stated, with three folks being rescued as of three p.m. native time. They had been taken to hospital for remedy.
Wind speeds of 144 kilometers per hour (89 miles per hour) and waves that had been 10 meters (33 toes) excessive had been registered on the ship’s location, the authority stated.
Heavy climate and close by wind farms had been reportedly hindering rescue operations, with helicopters, fixed-wing planes and a ship all despatched to the area.
In line with the three survivors, different crew members might have been swept away by waves earlier than the primary helicopter arrived, the authority stated in a press release.
Authorities in Hong Kong raised the hurricane warning on Thursday simply as Chinese language President Xi Jinping arrived within the metropolis to commemorate the twenty fifth anniversary of its handover from British to Chinese language rule.
tj/nm (Reuters, AFP)