BEIJING, July 4 (PTI): A total of 12 bodies, believed to be of the people who went missing after a floating crane sank off the coast of China’s Guangdong Province, were found on Monday, the provincial maritime search and rescue centre said.
The floating crane of an offshore wind-farm project was found via a monitoring system to be in danger after its mooring chain broke while it was taking shelter from typhoon Chaba in waters near the city of Yangjiang on Saturday.
The crane later sank about 300 kilometers southwest of Hong Kong with 27 people going missing. Three members of the crew were rescued on Saturday. Rescue teams searching for missing crew members saved a fourth person on Monday, reports from Hong Kong said.
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The 12 bodies were recovered in an area about 50 nautical miles southwest of the site where the floating crane sank, and relevant departments are stepping up the identification work, said the centre.
The bodies were found about 90 kilometers southwest of the area in which the vessel Fujing 001 sank. Officials are trying to identify the bodies. The search for the remaining crew members was continuing.
A total of seven planes, 246 vessels and 498 fishing boats have been mobilised to carry out searches for the remaining missing people in targeting areas including beaches and nearshore and offshore area, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Chaba, the third typhoon of the year, made landfall in the coastal area of Maoming City in Guangdong on Saturday.
China’s State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters on Saturday upgraded its emergency response for flood and typhoon control to Level III, in light of possible floods triggered by the third and fourth typhoons of the year.
Typhoon Aere, the fourth typhoon of the year, is forecast to approach the East China Sea on the weekend.
China has a four-tier flood-control emergency response system, with level I being the most severe.
