Three boats lost, 74 fishermen missing in typhoon

Seventy-four fishermen from Guangdong are missing in rough seas near the Paracel Islands, after three fishing boats were sunk by Typhoon Wutip.迷你倉Five fishing boats, all registered in Taishan city, Guangdong, and including one registered with a Hong Kong owner, issued distress calls on Sunday evening, according to the Jiangmen city government, which administers Taishan.Two Hong Kong Government Flying Service fixed-wing planes were called out to help search for the missing crew, with one spotting what were believed to be a life raft and life jacket in the ocean yesterday morning.Mainland authorities, including the People's Liberation Army, also launched a large-scale search, with 10 ships, including three navy warships, and six aircraft, Xinhua reported. A total of 150 marine policemen were also sent from Sansha city to join the search. Xinhua said the search was hampered by gale-force winds and big waves.State media late yesterday said 14 people had been rescued, while another 83 were safe on the surviving fishing boats, including the Hong Kong-owned Taisha 1698. The other boat, however, had lost power and was drifting, the Jiangmen government said."[The Hong Kong-owned boat] set out from Taishan early this month [September]. No Hong Kong people were on board the five boat文件倉," said Zhuo Guoxiong, a Jiangmen government propaganda official.A man whose brother-in-law was on board one of the sunk boats said: "We've lost contact with him. The five boats often travelled to the islands for fishing. They should be very experienced in the stormy seas. We are very worried and were surprised when we heard the news."Wutip made landfall on Vietnam's central coast yesterday packing winds of up to 103km/h with gusts up to 133km/h, Vietnam's National Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting Center said.Vietnam closed schools, ordered all boats ashore and moved some 70,000 people to shelters as high winds and heavy rain uprooted trees and tore the roofs off houses.The Hong Kong Marine Rescue Co-ordination Centre received a call from mainland authorities at about 6.30am yesterday and was told that three mainland-registered fishing vessels were in danger near Paracel Islands.At the centre's request, the first of two fixed-wing planes involved in the search left Hong Kong at about 10am and arrived at the scene at about 11.35am.Government Flying Service deputy manager Emily Wong said the weather and visibility at the site were good. "Our crew spotted a suspected life raft and a life jacket drifting in the scene, but no survivor or missing boat was discovered," she said.存倉