According to state media on Monday, seven people were found dead on board a Chinese fishing vessel that overturned in the middle of the Indian Ocean, days after Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered a full-scale search to find the missing crew members.
Following the capsize of the Chinese distant-water fishing vessel “Lupeng Yuanyu 028” early on Tuesday, a number of nations, including Australia, India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Maldives, and the Philippines, joined rescue efforts to find 39 missing crew members.
The owner of the vessel is Shandong province-based Penglai Jinglu Fishery Co Ltd. The company has not yet made a statement regarding the incident.
It wasn’t immediately clear which of the 39 persons who were initially on board—17 Chinese crew members, 17 Indonesians, and five Filipinos—had been discovered.
According to the Chinese Ministry of Transport, Sri Lankan divers discovered and recovered the remains in the ship’s cabin, which CCTV reported. It also reported that the crashed vessel continued to move in the eastern direction.
13 ships, according to official media, are still in the area where the boat sank.
Last week, high-powered marine radar was visible on ships seeking to identify the overturned ferry on CCTV footage, while crew members were spotted using visual equipment to scan the sea for survivors.
President Xi reportedly gave the order last Thursday for more rescue personnel to be dispatched and for coordinated international maritime search help.
On Thursday, the Chinese ambassador to Australia asked Canberra to boost up its search and rescue operations to aid in finding the missing people.
