Tehran (Times Of Ocean)- An Emirati cargo ship has capsized in Persian Gulf waters off Iran’s coast, triggering a search and rescue operation in heavy seas that recovered all but one of its 30 crew members, according to the state-run Iranian media.
IRNA reports that all but one of the 30 crew members of the UAE cargo ship that sank off the Iranian port of Asalouyeh have been rescued.
The director of crisis management for Bushehr province on Iran’s Persian Gulf coast told the media that two rescue vessels are combing the waters for the final missing crew member.
The state media reported that the car transporter vessel sank in heavy winds off nearly 30 miles from the Iranian port of Asalouyeh early on Thursday.
The winds were gusting at more than 70 kilometres per hour, according to Iran Meteorological Organization.
Officially, neither the origin nor destination of the ship nor the nationalities of the crew are known.
The ship was identified ‘Al Salmy 6’ by online tracking service, MarineTraffic, as crossing the Persian Gulf between Dubai (UAE) and Iraqi Umm Qasr.
On Wednesday, the Iranian weather service had put out a red alert for high winds and heavy seas in the waters off Asalouyeh.