Marine

28.11, sinking, fatalities

Taiwan: navy vessels and helicopters led a search for 26 sailors missing after bulk carrier Mezzanine (16067 gt, built 1975), with a crew of 27, sailing from Indonesia for China with a cargo of iron ore, sunk off the north coast of Taiwan coast. One crew member was found alive, clinging to his life vest, a day after the freighter went down, by Taiwan’s Coast Guard, but the remaining 26 Indonesian crew members were feared dead. Authorities had dispatched two helicopters and six vessels after they received distress signals from the vessel. Although the coast guard normally calls off searches within 72 hours, it has extended its hunt for the vessel to a seventh day, using 12 boats and a helicopter.