15 Indians rescued, search on for 11 after ship sinks off Japan island: External Affairs Ministry

A 33,205-tonne cargo vessel with 26 Indians on board sent a distress signal on Friday as a typhoon churned in the region

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NEW DELHI: Search operations continued for the 11 Indian crew members who went missing after a cargo ship sank in the Pacific ocean off the Japan coast. Meanwhile, 15 crew members were rescued, confirmed the External Affairs ministry on Friday evening.

“15 Indians rescued, search on for missing 11 following sinking of a ship off Okinawa. Our Missions in Japan, Philippines & China on the job,” said Raveesh Kumar, the (Ministry of External Affiars) MEA spokesperson. 

The ministry also released the names of rescued crew members:

List of 15 rescued Indians as received from Japanese officials. Search on for missing 11. Our Missions regularly monitoring the situation. pic.twitter.com/0CKalemnie

— Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) October 13, 2017

The 33,205-tonne Emerald Star with 26 Indians on board sent a distress signal on early Friday morning as a typhoon churned in the region, said Japan`s coastguard.

The Hong Kong-registered cargo ship was sailing nearly 280 kilometres (174 miles) east of the northern tip of the Philippines. Japan dispatched two patrol boats, three planes to rescue those on board. However, the typhoon made the search operations difficult.