38 Filipino seafarers lost at sea

ONE FOUND A Filipino crewman of the cargo vessel Gulf Livestock 1 is rescued by a Japan Coast Guard boat during a search and rescue operation at the East China Sea, west of Amami Oshima Island in southwestern Japan. —REUTERS

Thirty-eight Filipino seafarers remained missing in chilly waters off southwestern Japan a day after their cargo ship capsized on Wednesday as Typhoon “Maysak” smashed into the Korean peninsula.

The Panamanian-flagged Gulf Livestock 1 had a total 43 crew members, consisting of 39 Filipinos, two Australians and two New Zealand nationals, and was transporting 6,000 cattle from New Zealand to China when it sent a distress signal on Wednesday from waters off Amami Oshima Island in southwestern Japan after being caught up in Typhoon Maysak.

“So far, one Filipino was reported to have been rescued by the Japanese Coast Guard,” said the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo.

The Philippine Consulate General in Osaka said Japan’s Coast Guard will launch a second search and rescue mission amid the incoming typhoon. Flights were canceled or delayed and downed trees and other debris caused light damage after Maysak, the ninth typhoon of the season, hit the peninsula with its 170-kilometer-per-hour winds, according to the South Korea Yonhap News Agency.

It was the fourth to hit the peninsula this year and left about 120,000 households without power across South Korea, officials said.

One person died when winds shattered a window in Busan, which bore the brunt of the storm, Yonhap reported.

The peninsula typically sees only one typhoon a year, but another typhoon, “Haishen,” is brewing south of Japan and is expected to hit the Korean coast on Sunday or Monday, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Earth Observatory reported.

Unusual typhoon season

Some of the areas hardest hit on Thursday were still counting the cost of last week’s Typhoon “Bavi” and one of the wettest monsoon seasons on record.

Parts of the South Korean resort island of Jeju reported more than 1,000 millimeters of rainfall since Tuesday, according to the weather agency.

North Korea took the brunt of Typhoon Bavi, and for a second week in a row state TV carried rare live reports of storm surge and flooding, including in the coastal town of Wonsan. —WITH A REPORT FROM REUTERS