The last message from the Devon Bay came at 9:26 p.m. on Thursday, January 22. The crew reported that the hull had tilted severely and water was flooding in. Then contact was lost.
The ship was a Singapore-registered cargo vessel on its way from the Philippines to Guangdong province in China, with 21 Filipino crew members aboard. Its emergency wireless position indicator later sent out an alarm. At 0:46 a.m. Friday, the Sansha maritime search and rescue branch received a report from the Hainan provincial maritime search and rescue center that the ship had gone silent about 55 nautical miles northwest of Huangyan Dao, known elsewhere as Scarborough Shoal.
Sansha launched a multi-agency international rescue. The Southern Theater Command of China’s People’s Liberation Army sent military aircraft to search the water. Two nearby China Coast Guard vessels joined in, along with teams from the Nanhai Rescue Bureau of the Ministry of Transport. Commercial ships registered in Liberia, Panama and Japan also took part in the search.
Who was pulled out
By noon on Friday, 17 people had been rescued, and 14 were reported to be in stable condition, according to a statement shared by the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines. The Chinese military said two of those rescued later died. Four other crew members remain missing. Chinese military footage showed the rescue.
The Philippine Coast Guard gave an earlier picture. It said it deployed aircraft after a distress report, and that 10 of the 21 crew had been picked up by a passing China Coast Guard vessel. Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority is investigating the sinking, which safety4sea identified as the bulk carrier Devon Bay, loaded with iron ore.
A disputed patch of sea
The rescue took place near a shoal claimed by both China and the Philippines, and the position given by the Philippine side lies inside its exclusive economic zone. At the Philippines’ request, the China Coast Guard handed the 17 rescued sailors to the Philippine Coast Guard at 2:43 p.m. on Sunday, January 25, in the waters where the accident happened.
The Coast Guard said it would continue to mobilize forces for the search. The cause of the capsizing has not been given.
Sources
- China hands over 17 Filipino sailors from shipwreck to Philippines
- Chinese Coast Guard Rescues Filipino Crew From Capsized Cargo Ship Near Disputed Territory
