In a devastating incident last week in the Indian Ocean, a fishing vessel carrying 39 crew members from China, Indonesia, and the Philippines capsized, resulting in no survivors, according to an initial government probe released on Tuesday.
The ill-fated vessel, with 17 Chinese, 17 Indonesians, and five Filipinos on board, overturned on May 16. The Chinese transport ministry shared on social media, “From an analysis of the ship’s capsizing… it is preliminarily judged that there are no survivors from the ship.”
The tragic incident occurred within Australia’s expansive search-and-rescue region, approximately 5,000 kilometers west of Perth, the capital of Western Australia.
Chinese state media reported on Monday that seven bodies had been recovered by Chinese and Sri Lankan rescue vessels, without disclosing the nationalities of the deceased.
Australia promptly dispatched three airplanes and four ships to support the international search-and-rescue efforts. However, as of Tuesday morning, the Chinese transport ministry downgraded the operation to a “48-hour small-scale investigation.”
Despite extensive search efforts covering an area of approximately 64,000 square kilometers, no signs of survivors were found, as confirmed by the ministry.
The distress beacon of the fishing vessel was initially detected last week during Cyclone Fabian, which generated colossal waves reaching up to seven meters in height and winds gusting at 120 kilometers per hour.
Rescue efforts were hampered by adverse weather conditions, and the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Canberra warned of “challenging” survival conditions.
In a somber gesture, rescue boats observed one minute of mourning by sounding their horns in the early hours of Tuesday. By noon, only seven vessels remained at the scene, while the capsized ship continued to drift gradually northeastward, according to the ministry.
The vessel involved in the tragedy was owned by Penglai Jinglu Fishery Company, a major state-run fishing enterprise in China. It was authorized to fish for neon flying squid and Pacific saury, as reported by the North Pacific Fisheries Commission.
Departing from Cape Town, South Africa, on May 5, the vessel was en route to Busan, South Korea, according to the MarineTraffic tracking website. The last known location of the vessel was southeast of Reunion, a small French island in the Indian Ocean, on May 10.
Penglai Jinglu Fishery is also engaged in squid and tuna fishing operations in international waters, including the Indian Ocean and the seas surrounding Latin America.
This tragic incident serves as a stark reminder of the risks faced by those working in the fishing industry and highlights the importance of safety measures and swift response in emergency situations. Our thoughts go out to the families and loved ones of the crew members affected by this heartbreaking event.
