Chinese ship sinking off coast

A China-bound cargo ship rolled abruptly, injuring 18 crew members, after it hit rough weather in the Arabian Sea. The ship tilted to about 30 degrees throwing almost everything that was not nailed to its deck off Mangalore coast.

The ship, Asian Forest, was carrying 13,600 tonnes of iron ore from New Mangalore to China. There were 22 people on board when the incident happened.

Ship officials blamed the mishap on cargo loading error. The coast guard managed to save about 18 crew members including the ship's captain Yang Seng Yang. They have been brought to Mangalore and are receiving medical treatment.   "The ship, which had sailed out Thursday, sent an SOS to the new Mangalore Port saying that that they were coming back after they hit bad weather. That's when the ship tilted," chairman of the New Mangalore Port P Tamilvanan told DNA.

According to the marine engineers, the ship will sink sometime on Saturday as the listing was severe on the starboard side and the cargo will only get more wet and gain weight which will hasten the final plunge.

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