The strange collision between a Republic of Korea (ROK)
freighter and a Chinese container ship last Saturday seemed to
become even eerier on Thursday when members of the crew on board
the Chinese ship revealed that they had had contact with the
unfortunate ROK freighter mere hours after the collision.
According to earlier reports, the ROK ship "Golden Rose" sank on
Saturday morning, around 3 A.M., off the coast of Shandong Province after colliding in heavy fog
with a Chinese freighter, the "Jinsheng," owned by Shandong Lufeng
Shipping Company Ltd and registered in St. Vincent.
At a press conference in Beijing on Thursday, Liu Gongchen,
executive deputy director of the China Maritime Search and Rescue
Center, revealed that "the crew of the 'Jinsheng' spoke of having
had contact with parties from the 'Golden Rose' at 9 A.M. on
Saturday. However, an investigation is still ongoing as to why
neither party informed the maritime authorities of this fact."
Liu also said that ROK experts would be joining up with the
Chinese investigation team, set up by the Ministry of
Communications. He pledged full disclosure of the results and
promised that if the Jinsheng's crew was found to have broken the
law, they would be punished.
At the moment, investigators are focusing on the lack of any SOS
distress call from either of the ships at the time of the collision
and why the Chinese ship steamed on towards Dalian without stopping
to help the Golden Rose.
Now, close to a week after the tragedy, sixteen sailors from the
Golden Rose – eight ROK nationals, seven from Myanmar and one from
Indonesia – are still lost at sea.
An emergency Chinese diving team, including 16 divers, two
instructors, two doctors and an engineer, on Thursday arrived at
the site of the collision but initial dives were aborted due to
strong winds and choppy seas.
Zhai Jiugang, director of the China Maritime Search and Rescue
Center's General Office, revealed that the Golden Rose was equipped
with three life rafts but that since only two had been recovered,
"there is a possibility that someone may have survived." Usually,
Zhai specified, people will succumb to exposure within three hours
in waters ranging from four to 10 degrees Celsius. Thus, there is
little chance for survival if the sailors fell overboard since
temperatures in the area stand at around nine to ten degrees.
Over 300 Chinese ships and three aircraft have searched
tirelessly for the missing sailors and they will soon be joined by
rescue boats and coast guard vessels from the ROK. So far, two life
rafts, four life rings, traces of fuel oil and other debris from
the Golden Rose have been recovered but the seamen have seemingly
vanished without trace.
On Thursday morning, 22 relatives of the missing ROK
sailors, accompanied by 19 ROK officials and reporters, paid a
visit to the area of the collision.
(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2007)