Cargo Ships Sink

32 seafarers have been rescued after two cargo vessels sank off the Philippines within hours of each other at the weekend.

The Panama registered M/V Sun Spirit, sent a distress signal while it began to list Saturday. Although Coast Guard officials immediately launched a search and rescue which deployed three ships and a helicopter, it is reported that the crew, 12 Indonesians and 2 Koreans, were rescued by a Philippine cargo ship and a fishing boat.

The ship, bound for China, was carrying iron ore. It was not immediately clear why the ship sank.

In another incident, the M/V Seaford – a Philippine cargo ship, with 18 Filipino crewmen sank early Sunday. The crewmen were rescued by fishing boats after the vessel’s hull hit a hard object and began to take in water off central Antique province.

A Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Algier Ricafrente has stated that the M/V Seaford was destined for Antique with about 35,000 sacks of cement. Coast Guard and Antique officials were monitoring any possible oil spill from the sunken vessel, which left southern Iligan city with 2,377 gallons of oil for fuel.