Rescue efforts are ongoing in search of 39 sailors declared missing at sea after a Chinese fishing vessel, Lu Peng Yuan Yu 028, capsized in the Indian Ocean around 3 a.m. on Tuesday.
A search and rescue operation was launched on Wednesday as several ships and aircraft searched for the crew consisting of 17 Chinese nationals, 17 Indonesians and five Filipinos.
The cause of the capsizing still remains unkown.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Qiang have ordered Chinese diplomats abroad, as well as the agriculture and transportation ministries, to assist in the search for survivors.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin in a press briefing Wednesday said: “Chinese and foreign ships have arrived in the area where the incident occurred and the search and rescue work is ongoing. More rescue personnel are rushing to the scene.
“We will continue to take all necessary measures with all parties to search for and rescue the missing persons”, Wenbin said.
Beijing has deployed two commercial vessels to the area, the Lu Peng Yuan Yu 018 and Yuan Fu Hai, to help with the operation.
Philippine foreign ministry spokeswoman Teresita Daza assured that Manila was “aware and is closely monitoring the situation”. Indonesia’s foreign ministry said Beijing was coordinating the rescue efforts.
The capsized vessel is owned by Penglai Jinglu Fishery Company, one of China’s major state-run fishing firms. It was authorised to fish for neon flying squid and Pacific saury, the North Pacific Fisheries Commission revealed.
It left Cape Town in South Africa on May 5 for Busan in South Korea, revealed the MarineTraffic tracking website, which last located the vessel on May 10 southeast of Reunion, a tiny French island in the Indian Ocean.
Credible News report that China is believed to operate the world’s largest fishing fleet. Many of them stay at sea for months or even years at a time, supported by Chinese state maritime security agencies and a
In 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was believed to have gone down somewhere in the Indian Ocean with 239 people aboard. That Boeing 777, which remains missing, became invisible to civilian radar when its transponder locating device stopped transmitting during a flight from Kuala Lumpur.
