Twelve Indonesian sailors have gone missing in the sea after the Panamanian-flagged freighter on which they worked developed a mechanical failure and sank off the coast of Changhua County on Monday night, the Maritime Port Bureau said on Tuesday.

The bureau said it received a call for help from the 6,186-ton cargo ship, a cement freighter that sank off the coast of Changhua County at 8:45 p.m. Monday, five hours after it began tilting heavily in big waves and was partially submerged 14 nautical miles from the coast.

Seventeen Indonesian crew members descended to several safety boats waiting for rescue after abandoning the ship, which was heading to the Port of Taichung, the bureau said.

While five were lifted to safety by a nearby merchant ship belonging to Evergreen Marine Corp., the rest drifted away on board their safety boats and were still missing as of Tuesday afternoon, it said.

Chang Chia-hao (張家豪), head of the bureau’s Central Maritime Affairs Center, said the Panamanian cargo ship had sunk, and the National Airborne Service Corps (NASC) and the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) have sent aircraft and ships to search for the missing.

Empty safety boats were spotted off Chiayi, Tainan and Penghu Island Tuesday morning, and the NASC and the CGA said the search and rescue mission will continue.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel