Tripoli, December 18: A major international operation was under way on Friday to search for more than 50 people still missing after a freighter capsized in stormy seas off Lebanon.
One of the survivors pulled from the Mediterranean after the Panamanian-flagged freighter went down off the north coast of Lebanon on Thursday said the British captain had been killed.
Rescuers have so far recovered 25 people from the Danny F II, which was on its way to Syria from Uruguay with more than 80 passengers and crew including Pakistanis and Filipinos, and a cargo of thousands of sheep and cattle.
A rescued crew member was quoted by a Lebanese security official as saying the captain had died. Two bodies recovered from the sea were being taken to the northern port of Tripoli, the official said, without giving more details.
Two of those pulled from the water were Philippine and Pakistani nationals, a rescue official said.
“They were very scared and cold when we pulled them out of the water,” he told AFP.
UN, Syrian and Lebanese navy rescue boats continued the search early Friday along with three vessels sent by a UN peacekeeping force stationed off Lebanon. A British rescue helicopter also flew from Cyprus for backup on Thursday night.
But rescue efforts were hampered by severe rain and thunderstorms that lashed Lebanon Thursday and Friday.
“The sea conditions are rough and we need to find the survivors quickly because they run the risk of hypothermia,” a Tripoli port official said.
“Rescue efforts are being hampered by the fact that we’re operating in an area where the waves are as high as three metres (10 feet) and because of the floating dead animals,” another Lebanese official told AFP.
A Lebanese military spokesman told AFP the crew apparently had time to put on their life jackets before the boat capsized.
The ship, transporting livestock from Uruguay to the Syrian port of Tartous, overturned about 11 nautical miles off Tripoli after sending a distress signal at around 3:55 pm (1355 GMT) Thursday.
It was trying to reach the Lebanese capital Beirut when it capsized.
The ship’s operator, Agencia Schandy, told AFP in Montevideo that the Danny F II had a crew of 76 and six passengers — four Uruguayans, one Brazilian and an Australian.
It had left Montevideo on November 23 with about 10,000 sheep and almost 18,000 cattle bound for Tartous, north of Tripoli, but was forced to change course because of the bad weather.
All of the animals were presumed lost.
A Togolese-flagged ship also sank off the southern coast of Lebanon last week. Several crew members were rescued by Israel but a number are still missing.
–Agencies