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The strange collision between a Republic of Korea (ROK) freighter and a Chinese container ship last Saturday seemed to become even eerier on Thursday when members of the crew on board the Chinese ship revealed that they had had contact with the unfortunate ROK freighter mere hours after the collision.

 

According to earlier reports, the ROK ship "Golden Rose" sank on Saturday morning, around 3 A.M., off the coast of Shandong Province after colliding in heavy fog with a Chinese freighter, the "Jinsheng," owned by Shandong Lufeng Shipping Company Ltd and registered in St. Vincent.

 

At a press conference in Beijing on Thursday, Liu Gongchen, executive deputy director of the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center, revealed that "the crew of the 'Jinsheng' spoke of having had contact with parties from the 'Golden Rose' at 9 A.M. on Saturday. However, an investigation is still ongoing as to why neither party informed the maritime authorities of this fact."

 

Liu also said that ROK experts would be joining up with the Chinese investigation team, set up by the Ministry of Communications. He pledged full disclosure of the results and promised that if the Jinsheng's crew was found to have broken the law, they would be punished.

 

At the moment, investigators are focusing on the lack of any SOS distress call from either of the ships at the time of the collision and why the Chinese ship steamed on towards Dalian without stopping to help the Golden Rose.  

 

Now, close to a week after the tragedy, sixteen sailors from the Golden Rose – eight ROK nationals, seven from Myanmar and one from Indonesia – are still lost at sea.

 

An emergency Chinese diving team, including 16 divers, two instructors, two doctors and an engineer, on Thursday arrived at the site of the collision but initial dives were aborted due to strong winds and choppy seas.

 

Zhai Jiugang, director of the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center's General Office, revealed that the Golden Rose was equipped with three life rafts but that since only two had been recovered, "there is a possibility that someone may have survived." Usually, Zhai specified, people will succumb to exposure within three hours in waters ranging from four to 10 degrees Celsius. Thus, there is little chance for survival if the sailors fell overboard since temperatures in the area stand at around nine to ten degrees.  

 

Over 300 Chinese ships and three aircraft have searched tirelessly for the missing sailors and they will soon be joined by rescue boats and coast guard vessels from the ROK. So far, two life rafts, four life rings, traces of fuel oil and other debris from the Golden Rose have been recovered but the seamen have seemingly vanished without trace.

 

On Thursday morning, 22 relatives of the missing ROK sailors, accompanied by 19 ROK officials and reporters, paid a visit to the area of the collision.  

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2007)