Cargo ship sinks in stormy Persian Gulf. Crew member missing, officials say.
Twenty-nine of 30 crew members were rescued, officials said.
LONDON -- A United Arab Emirates-flagged cargo ship with 30 people on board sank on Thursday in the Persian Gulf off the southern coast of Iran.
The ship sank due to turbulence in poor weather about 30 miles from Asaluyeh, local authorities said.
Rescuers were immediately dispatched from different parts of Iran’s southern coastline to rescue the ship's crew, Iranian media reported.
Twenty-nine of the 30 crew members have been rescued so far, a crisis-mitigation official told Islamic Republic News Agency.
The cargo ship capsized after it encountered rough stormy weather, Capt. Nizar Qaddoura, the operations manager of the Salem Al Makrani Cargo company, told The Associated Press, adding the crew consisted of nationals from Sudan, India, Pakistan, Uganda, Tanzania and Ethiopia.
The vessel was on its way to Umm Qasr, Iraq, carrying cars and other cargo, Qaddoura told AP.
Iranian local crisis mitigation official Jahangir Dehghani told IRNA on Thursday that the rescue operation to find the missing crew was continuing.
“At present, two lifeboats … are present at the scene of the accident,” he said.
Due to the strong wind in the northwest direction, the Persian Gulf was reportedly quite rough and turbulent. Wind speeds were recorded at more than 43 miles per hour.
Top Stories
ABC News Live