Helicopter rescue teams saved 21 crew members from a cargo ship that sank off Hong Kong on Wednesday after Severe Typhoon Utor caused waves of up to 15 metres, officials said.
The crew abandoned ship as the 190-metre-long bulk carrier Trans Summer sank 80 kilometres southwest of Hong Kong, the city’s Flying Services said.
Some of [the crew] were floating in the water and some were on life saving boats awaiting rescue
It happened around 10.30am off the Wanshan Archipelago, a group of islands that are part of Zhuhai and to the south of the opening of the Pearl River Delta estuary.
Samuel Yip Wai-hung, a Government Flying Service pilot who took part in the rescue, said the ship was sinking when they arrived.
“When our helicopter arrived, the ship had tilted nearly 90 degrees [in the water]. All crew had abandoned the ship by that time,” Yip said.
“Some of them were floating in the water and some were on life saving boats awaiting rescue,” he said.