The fishing vessel Lupeng Yuanyu 028, owned by Shandong-based Penglai Jinglu Fishery, capsized in the central Indian Ocean about 5,000 kilometers west of Perth, Australia, early on Tuesday, with 39 crew members on board missing, including 17 Chinese, 17 Indonesians, and five Filipinos. Photo: File

The remains of a victim of the wrecked Chinese fishing vessel in the Indian Ocean were salvaged by Sri Lankan rescuers on Saturday evening and transferred to the Chinese side, the ministry of transport of China confirmed on Sunday.

The fishing vessel Lupeng Yuanyu 028, owned by Shandong-based Penglai Jinglu Fishery, capsized in the central Indian Ocean about 5,000 kilometers west of Perth, Australia, early on Tuesday, with 39 crew members on board missing, including 17 Chinese, 17 Indonesians, and five Filipinos.

The Sri Lankan naval vessel that retrieved the bodies of the victims arrived at the area of the Indian Ocean on Saturday. Divers from the vessel approached the sunken fishing vessel and found a body from the captain's cabin at around 19:00 pm.

Sri Lankan rescuers approached the ship again on Sunday morning and conducted underwater exploration with Chinese rescue ships under the coordination of the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center. Rescuers boarded the capsized vessel and knocked on it in multiple places, but there was no response.

At present, 14 rescue ships, including a Sri Lankan naval vessel, are on the scene to rescue the missing personnel on board, and more fishing boats are coming to the rescue.

In addition, 12 emergency rescuers from the Shanghai Salvage Bureau have set sail from the Hambantota port in Sri Lanka and are expected to arrive at the scene by Tuesday evening.

As of now, a small part of the wrecked ship's bottom is still above the water, and the state of the hull has not changed significantly, and it is drifting slowly towards the southeast. It has already been calculated that the drifting track has exceeded 100 nautical miles.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has demanded all-out efforts in the rescue of missing crew after the incident, and gave the instruction following the incident that occurred around 3 am Tuesday, urging relevant departments to activate the emergency response mechanism immediately, so as to ensure the safety of people's lives and property.

The Ministry of Transport will continue to do its best in the follow-up search and rescue work, formulate search and rescue plans scientifically, organize search and rescue operations in accordance with laws and regulations, and do its utmost to search and rescue the missing, the Xinhua News Agency quoted an official as saying.

Global Times