The Japan Coast Guard said Friday that the body of a man believed to be a crew member of a freighter that went missing in stormy weather earlier in the week was found drifting in the East China Sea.
Coast guard officials said the body was found in the sea off Amami-Oshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, at around 6:30 a.m.
He was attached by a cord to a life vest with the name of the freighter, they said.
The 11,947-ton Gulf Livestock 1 sent a distress call around 1:45 a.m. Wednesday when it was about 185 kilometers west of Amami-Oshima, according to the coast guard. It left New Zealand with 43 foreign crew members and 5,800 heads of cattle on board on Aug. 14 and was scheduled to arrive in China on Friday.
A Filipino crew member was rescued from the waters Wednesday night. He told authorities that the vessel was hit side-on by waves and capsized after one of its engines stopped.
The crew members of the Panamanian-registered vessel consist of two Australians, 39 Filipinos including the captain and two New Zealanders.
The search for the missing crew members and the vessel is still under way by the coast guard and the Maritime Self-Defense Force.
-Kyodo News-
