A Norwegian cargo ship was reported to have sunk near the coast of southern Vietnam. According to reports, the Norwegian ship Bulk Jupiter sunk on Friday while making its way to China. Additional reports claim that only one of the 19 crew survived the horrific incident.
The ship has 19 crews onboard and is sailing under the Bahamas flag. All the 19 crew member come from the Philippines based on reports from website Tuoi Tre News. The only survivor of the ship was the chief cook; unfortunately he refused to cooperate with its rescuers making it more difficult to pinpoint the exact location of the wreckage.
According to the ship's owner, the Bergen based Gearbulk Company; the ship was carrying 46,000 metric tons of bauxite stored in the ship's five cargo holds. Additional information shows that the carrier was 155 nautical miles off of Vietnam when it sent a distress signal which the Japanese coast guard picked up.
Gearbulk said in a statement that efforts to repeatedly contact the vessel using all possible communication channels are still unsuccessful. The company also added that the Japanese Coast Guard has already sent several search and rescue teams right after they received the distress signal.
Five ships from different nations is already scouring the possible area of wreckage to in hopes of finding any survivors. The Vietnamese ship SAR 413 is guiding the rescue operation. Supporting vessel includes Liberia's ZIM Asia, a tugboat from Oman OLNG Muttrah, a tugboat from Singapore Kota Nekad and Hong Kong's Sea Land Meteor.
According to the Philippine Foreign Affairs agency, the 56,000-ton ship sank near the coast of Vung Tau, just 59 miles away from the Vietnamese main city Ho Chi Minh City.
The company Gearbulk will be sending its representative from Singapore to coordinate and help with the ongoing efforts to rescue the remaining crew members.
