British Captain among 4 Dead after Ship Capsized off Lebanon Coast
Four people, including the British captain, have died after their ship capsized in stormy seas off the northern Lebanon coast. A search, however, for more survivors continued Friday after rescuers managed to pull out 38 crew members and passengers alive.
A rescued crew member of the Panamanian-flagged cargo ship Danny FII said their British captain died when the ship capsized in a storm off the coast of Tripoli on Thursday, a Lebanese security official said Friday.
A major international rescue launched Thursday has so far pulled 38 among the 82 people who were on board from the rough Mediterranean waters, a Lebanese army communiqué said Friday.
It said U.N. and Lebanese navy rescue boats continued the search in the early hours of Friday.
The statement said two British helicopters sent from Cyprus were taking part in the rescue operation, in addition to an Italian warship, a German logistics ship and two Lebanese freighters.
One of the survivors, a Filipino national, told rescuers that the British captain of the vessel which was heading from Uruguay to the Syrian port of Tartous, had been killed.
"He told us that the ship”s engine went down and the captain sounded the alarm and told everyone to jump in the water," a rescue official recounted. "He said that 10 minutes after they jumped, the ship overturned sideways in very high waves and sank with the captain still on board."
"The sea conditions are rough and we need to find the survivors quickly because they run the risk of hypothermia," a Tripoli port official said late Thursday.
"Rescue efforts are being hampered by the fact that we”re operating in an area where the waves are as high as three meters (10 feet) and because of the floating dead animals," he added.
A Lebanese military spokesman told AFP the crew apparently had time to put on their life jackets before the boat capsized.
The ship overturned about 11 nautical miles off Tripoli after sending a distress signal at around 3:55 pm (1355 GMT) Thursday.
It had changed course and was trying to reach the Lebanese capital Beirut when it capsized.
The ship”s operator, Agencia Schandy, told AFP in Montevideo that the Danny F II had a crew of 76 and six passengers — four Uruguayans, one Brazilian and an Australian.
It had left Montevideo on November 23 with about 10,000 sheep and almost 18,000 cattle bound for Tartous, north of Tripoli, but was forced to change course because of the bad weather.
All of the animals were presumed lost.
A Togolese-flagged ship also sank off the southern coast of Lebanon last week. Several crew members were rescued by Israel but a number are still missing.