TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The families of 40 men missing from a ship that sank two weeks ago are seeking the public's help to find their loved ones.
On Sept. 2, Gulf Livestock 1, a Panamanian-registered livestock carrier sailing from New Zealand to China, encountered rough seas generated by Typhoon Maysak.
The ship sent out a distress signal after its engine broke down. It then lost power, rapidly took on water, and sank 100 nautical miles (185 kilometers) west of Japan's Amani Oshima Island.
Onboard were nearly 6,000 cattle and 43 crewmen, included 39 Filipinos, two Australians, and two New Zealanders. On the evening of Sept. 2, a Japanese coast guard ship rescued the ship's chief officer Eduardo Sareno, 45, who was found wearing a life jacket and drifting in a raft, according to the BBC.
He was quoted by rescuers as asking "I'm the only one?" when being plucked from the water. Sareno said that after the engine broke down, the vessel was hit by a massive wave and began sinking.
He said the crew members had been told to put on life jackets but that when he jumped into the water, he did not see any of his shipmates. On Sept. 4, Japan's coast guard found a Filipino crew member floating unconscious near Amami Oshima Island, but he later was declared dead at the hospital.
However, that same day, the coast guard found 30-year-old Filipino Jay-Nel Rosals alive in a raft 2 kilometers from Kodakara Island, reported CNN. Just as Rosals had been found, an empty lifeboat was discovered drifting at sea about 4 kilometers east of Kodakara at around 4 p.m. local time.
The carcass of a cow was found near Amami Oshima the same day. Although two weeks have passed since any survivors have been found, families of the crew are holding out hope since three liferafts and one lifeboat remain missing.
The International Rescue Instructors Association has created Save The Forty! Gulf Livestock 1 pages on Facebook, Instagram, and gofundme in the hopes of crowdsourcing a maritime search and rescue team. In Australia, 100,000 have signed petitions urging their government to take part in a new search, while friends and family of the New Zealand crew members are lobbying MPs to resume searches.
Geographers and scientists have crafted a map that estimates where the life rafts may be located now, based on the wind, swell, drift, and current off southern Japan. Ships transitting through the area have been asked to keep a lookout for the missing liferafts and lifeboat.
Anyone who has information on the missing crew is urged to contact their nearest coast guard office or the Save The Forty groups on Facebook or Instagram.
Progress, so far!
Help us #SaveTheForty #findmymate #gulflivestock1 #hopeforGL1 #SOS #GulfLivestock1 #ResumeSAR #SearchandRescue #INSARAG #USNavy #JapanCoastGuard #MarineExecutive #SavetheForty #FindMyMate #Maritimeindustry #Shippingindustry #Maritimedisaster #USMarine pic.twitter.com/1sWSZPjryC
— Lara Pearl Alvarez (@LaraPearlAlvar1) September 14, 2020