Three drown and 27 rescued after ship capsizes

STONE TOWN, Saturday

At least three people drowned when a cargo ship capsized off the coast of Zanzibar today. The MV Fatih cruising from Dar-es-Salaam sank just before berthing at Stone Town. The head of the port said search operations had been launched. “So far, we have recovered three bodies and 27 people were rescued,” said the official.

The ship’s captain Usi Ali Usi said he experienced problems with the ship’s rudder and then realised there was a leak on the hull. The total number of people on board could not be immediately established.

Meanwhile, two Chinese fishermen died and one was rescued after they accidentally inhaled poisonous gas on a fishing boat off the coast of southeastern Fujian Province yesterday, sources with the Chinese navy said. The remains of the two crew members and the rescued fisherman, Li Jian, have been sent to the Shacheng Port in northeast Fujian by a navy ship.

The accident took place in the early yesterday morning when the three men were hit by hydrogen sulphide, a highly toxic gas, in the refrigerated storage of the ship code-named Zheyuyu 1616. The navy ship was alerted for help because local maritime rescue ships could not approach Zheyuyu 1616 on the rough sea. Six hours later the navy reached and carried out the rescue mission.

The two fishermen were declared dead by the navy doctor, but Li Jian recovered following emergency treatment, the navy said.