12 Indonesian sailors missing after vessel sinks off Taiwan coast

ISTANBUL

At least 12 Indonesian sailors went missing after a cargo vessel was caught in stormy winds and sank off Taiwan's coast.

Search and rescue efforts are going on since Monday afternoon when the incident happened after tropical storm Nalgau hit the region.

Five of the sailors were rescued while 12 others remained missing, daily Taiwan News reported on Tuesday.

The Panama-flagged vessel identified as the Shin Shuen No.1 was caught in strong waves in the sea off the Port of Kaohsiung on Sunday.

Three of the Indonesian crew members on board sustained injuries and were taken to a hospital by two Black Hawk helicopters, sent by the National Airborne Service Corps.

However, the vessel suffered a main engine failure leaving the rest of the 17 Indonesian crew stranded aboard.

They soon abandoned the ship that sank on Monday evening.

“No fuel was believed to have leaked into the ocean as a result of the accident,” the report said.

Known as Paeng in the Philippines, tropical storm Nalgau hit the region this weekend and left around 110 dead in the archipelago nation, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.