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Hit and Run on the Yellow Sea North East of Qingdao |
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 The South Korean ship "Golden Rose" sank off the Shandong coast near Yantai City (~190 Km North East of Qingdao) around 3:00 a.m. on Saturday May 12th, after colliding with the Saint Vincent registered "Jinsheng", a container ship operated by Shandong Lufeng Shipping Company Ltd.
The "Golden Rose", loaded with 5,900 tons of steel, was en route from northeast China's Liaoning Province to South Korea, while the "Jinsheng" was sailing from Yantai to Liaoning's port city of Dalian. After the accident, the "Jinsheng" continued to steam toward port, arriving at Dayao Bay in Dalian at 2:50 p.m. on Saturday. It is not known why the container ship failed to stop and help the stricken vessel.
The Yantai Maritime Affairs Bureau received the collision report from the Shandong Lufeng Shipping Company Ltd. at 11:40 a.m. on Saturday, and company officials said the "Jinsheng" had no contact with the "Golden Rose" before or after the collision, according to Luo Yonghong, deputy director of the Navigation Department with the Yantai bureau.
"Normally, maritime affairs authorities are informed as soon as a sea accident occurs. This case is obviously an exception, because we did not receive any information immediately after the accident," Han Lupeng said.
According to international maritime practice, a ship must always go to the rescue of a stricken vessel and also send out SOS signals, but both ships failed to do so, according to the official.
"Chinese authorities are puzzled about exactly what happened," Han said. Han deduced that the "Golden Rose" probably sank very fast and had no time to send signals, but added that people would have to wait for the results of the investigation.
Experts said that with an average sea temperature in the area of the collision of about 13.6 degrees Celsius, the chances of survival two days after the accident are slim.
"As long as there is one percent hope for the survival of the missing sailors, China will exert one hundred percent effort in the rescue work," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular press conference.
Source: www.chinadaily.com.cn
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