26 crewmembers of an offshore wind installation vessel are missing, after it snapped in two and eventually sinking, due to being caught near the centre of a typhoon in the South China Sea on July 2.
Fujing 001″ was carrying 30 crew on board, when it was hit by Typhoon Chaba offshore Yangjiang city in Guangdong province.
According to local media, the vessel experienced a dragging anchor, and then drifted as the anchor chains were broken by the typhoon at an anchorage offshore Yangjiang.
Upon being informed of the incident, the Hong Kong Government Flying Service (GFS) sent two fixed-wing aircraft and four helicopters to help several search and rescue vessels and managed to save four people.
GFS has now widened the search zone deploying more resources, but warned that as much time has passed since the crew went missing in such challenging weather conditions, the chances of finding them were very slim.
