Chinese rescuers saved a drowning Indian seaman out of sea early
Monday near the coastal city of Qinhuangdao, north China's Hebei Province.
Partsiban Viknesh, a crew member of the Indian freighter
Patalztutra, accidentally fell into water about 40 nautical
miles southeast of Qinhuangdao at 10:40 PM on Sunday, when the ship
was sailing from Qinhuangdao to South Korea, according to the
Ministry of Communications.
Failing to find the missing seaman, the Indian freighter radioed
for help to the ministry's Beihai Rescue Bureau, which immediately
dispatched its professional salvage ship Beihai Rescue 108
for the mission.
Beihai Rescue 108 made an estimate of the whereabouts of
the missing seaman and outlined a sea area to search, based on the
wind and sea flow movements. The rescuers looked for the seaman
with infrared device and floodlights, said Shen Hao, an official
with the ministry.
"The seaman was found at 5:50 AM about 2 nautical miles away
from the falling point, and he had been struggling in water for
more than seven hours," Shen said.
The seaman was so exhausted that he could not even speak, and
was sent quickly to a hospital in Qinhuangdao for treatment in the
morning, Shen said, adding more information might be available when
he got better.
(Xinhua News Agency September 4, 2007)