After authorities speak of a “miracle”, team finds sunken ship survivor

A mainland Chinese rescue team rescued a crew member from a ship that broke in half and sank during Typhoon Chaba in the early hours of Monday morning — just hours after their colleagues in Hong Kong said they a “miracle” would be needed to find more survivors.

More than a dozen people remain missing after the Chinese engineering vessel Fujing001 — with a crew of 30 — sank about 300 kilometers southwest of Hong Kong on Saturday as the typhoon hit southern China with strong winds. of 144 km/h.

Although the Hong Kong Government Aviation Service rescued three people on Saturday, hopes that more survivors would be found were fading after the service said Sunday night that the likelihood of that happening was “very, very small”.

However, just hours later, the Maritime Search and Rescue Center in Guangdong, southern China, announced that it had rescued a fourth crew member – who was described as being in “normal physical condition”.

Guangdong officials also said they found what are believed to be the remains of 12 other crew members and that the identities of the bodies are still being confirmed.

The discovery of the fourth crewman came after the resumption of search operations on Sunday. The search was suspended overnight Saturday due to bad weather conditions that made it too dangerous for rescuers, according to the Hong Kong Department of the Navy.

“The chances of finding (more crew) alive are very, very small,” West Wu Wai-hung, the Hong Kong government’s air services controller, told a news conference on Sunday after three crew members were rescued for his service.

“We would like to offer our condolences to the families of the missing sailors and workers, and I wish we could find some survivors, it will be a miracle to do so.”

The following day, Guangzhou Marine Base confirmed that a fourth crew member — described as a deck worker — had been rescued alive and that arrangements were being made to transfer the person to shore.

The three crew members rescued by the Hong Kong aviation service were described as being in stable condition and are being treated at North Lantau Hospital.

The 240-meter vessel — described by Chinese authorities as a “floating crane” — was being used to help build a wind farm off the coast of southern China when Chaba hit it.