At least 15 of the 26 Indian crew members, who went missing after their cargo ship sank in the Pacific off the Philippines as a typhoon churned in the region, were rescued till Friday evening.
Search was still on for the missing 11 Indians, Raveesh Kumar, the official spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs, tweeted.
Listing out the names of the persons rescued, Kumar said,“Fifteen Indians rescued, search is on for missing 11 following sinking of a ship off Okinawa. Our missions in Japan, Philippines & China on the job. They are regularly monitoring the situation.”
Earlier in the day, the Japanese coastguard, which received the distress signal, in a statement said, “The 33,205-tonne Emerald Star with 26 Indian nationals on board sent a distress signal early today as the Hong Kong-registered vessel was sailing some 280 kilometres east of the northern tip of the Philippines.”