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DPRK thanks China for rescuing sailors
PYONGYANG—The Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea(DPRK) on Saturday expressed thanks to China
for rescuing Korean sailors in an accident off Shandong Province coast.
“We feel very thankful to the government and local people of China on
sincerely rescuing and treating our distressed sailors”, said a report
of the Korean Central News Agency(KCNA). A DPRK-registered cargo ship
capsized four nautical miles from the shore of Shandong province of
China on Oct. 28 when strong winds were sweeping the sea area.
After the accident occurred, 21 of the total of 23 crew on aboard were
rescued by the Chinese side. One of them died on the way to hospital.
“The sincere rescue operation conducted by the Chinese side for the
distressed sailors of the ship was a clear manifestation of the
traditional DPRK-China friendship which is favorably developing with
each passing day”, said the KCNA.
“We will join the Chinese side in displaying the fine traits of helping
each other in hard times in the future, too, and make positive efforts
to boost the DPRK-China friendship”, it added. A fishing boat and nine
sailors onboard were left missing after losing contact with their
colleagues on another boat off east China’s coast early Sunday morning,
local authorities said.
The two boats, both from southeast China’s Fujian Province, have been
fishing side by side off the coast of Ningbo, eastern Zhejiang Province
since Saturday, said a spokesman with the Zhejiang Maritime Search and
Rescue Center. Sailors aboard one of the two boats, “Minxiayu 1136”,
called the police early Sunday morning after they found “Minxiayu 1121”
had lost touch with them, the spokesman said. Only a sailor who fell
into water from the missing boat were rescued at about 10:00 a.m. by a
freighter passing by from the Republic of Korea (ROK), the spokesman
said. More than 10 boats and a helicopter have been dispatched to search
the area, but no traces have been found, he said.
“No SOS signals have been received from the missing boat, so we’re not
clear about what had happened to that boat,” he said.—Xinhua |
