Chinese rescuers have brought a second body up, that of the captain, from a sunken Republic of Korea (ROK) ship that sank off the coast of Shandong ten days ago after colliding with a Chinese container ship, the Jinsheng.
The captain's body was found at 6:30 PM on Tuesday in his office on the second floor of the vessel, revealed an official with the rescue and salvage team. Another body was also located by divers but it was not recovered due to swirling currents and technical problems, said the source, adding that this latest body and the one previously recovered had not yet been identified.
On Monday evening, Chinese divers recovered the first body, and discovered the ship's last life raft still lashed to the side after two more had been found floating at sea. However, the divers reported seeing no automatic alarms that could have sent emergency distress signals.
The ROK ship, "Golden Rose", which was loaded with 5,900 tons of steel, sank around 3:00 AM last Saturday off the coast of Yantai after it crashed in heavy fog with the "Jinsheng", a freighter operated by Shandong Lufeng Shipping Company Ltd. The Jinsheng is registered in Saint Vincent.
After the collision at 3am on Saturday morning, the crew of the Jinsheng told investigators that they had had contact with the Golden Rose around 9am, but it is still not known why neither ship tried to inform maritime authorities. An investigation lead by the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center is currently underway.
(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2007)
