39 Filipinos missing as Japan coast guard hunts for missing cargo ship

TOKYO, Japan — A cargo vessel with at least 43 foreign crew members went missing while transiting the East China Sea on Wednesday, the Japanese coast guard said.

The crew reportedly includes 39 Filipinos, two New Zealanders, an Australian and a Singaporean.

Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary Ed Meñez said the DFA is checking with its posts in Japan to confirm the report.

Japanese local media also said the ship was carrying 5,800 cows.

Japan's coast guard said Wednesday one person was found during a search for a cargo ship with 43 people on board after receiving a distress call from the East China Sea during a typhoon.

An alarm signal was received in the early hours from a vessel around 185 kilometres (115 miles) west of Japan's Amami Oshima island, the coast guard said.

It said it believed the call for help had been sent by a ship called Gulf Livestock 1, on its way to the Chinese port of Tangshan from Napier in New Zealand.

"We were informed by the defence ministry that a person wearing a life jacket was found" in the sea where the ship went missing, a coast guard official told AFP.

The person, whose identity and condition is unclear, was found by a patrol plane sent by the defence ministry.

A rubber boat was also spotted from the plane, but the coast guard official said they have not confirmed if it belonged to the ship.

Four coast guard vessels and several planes were involved in the search-and-rescue operation.

One of the vessels arrived in the area more than 10 hours from the distress call and three were still heading there in stormy conditions.

The coast guard said it had not detected any additional signals.

The distress call came as strong winds and heavy rain lashed the area overnight with the passage of Typhoon Maysak.