Seven bodies have been recovered by Sri Lankan divers engaged in SAR (search and rescue) operations on the Chinese fishing vessel that was capsized in the Indian ocean.
SAR operations were undertaken on the request by Chinese President Xi Jinping into the Chinese fishing vessel Lupeng Yuanyu 028which was found capsized last Tuesday (16 May) with its 39 member crew missing.
Reuters has reported that several countries, including Sri Lanka, Australia, India, Indonesia, the Maldives, and the Philippines, joined in rescue efforts for 39 missing crew members. 39 people that were originally on board, consist of 17 Chinese crew members, 17 Indonesians and five from the Philippines.It was not immediately clear which crew members were found.
According to CCTV Chinese Ministry of Transport has stated that the Sri Lankan divers found and recovered the remains in the cabin of the ship.
CCTV has further reported that the wrecked vessel continues to slowly drift eastward.
There are several SAR teams still attempting to find the missing crew members. It is also not clear as to what caused the accident yet.