Muscat: The body of a seaman missing from a sunken cargo ship was recovered on Saturday evening and the search for the rest continued yesterday, according to a South Korean embassy official.
"We are yet to identify the body that was recovered late on Saturday," Kim Hak Sung, Second Secretary at the South Korean Embassy in Muscat told Gulf News yesterday.
However, Dr MacArthur F. Corsino, Consul-General at the Philippines Embassy in Muscat, told Gulf News that the initial reports were that the body was of a Filipino sailor. "We are waiting for the clearance from the local authorities so that we could go to the mortuary and identify the body," he said yesterday.
The body of the seaman has been brought to Muscat and kept at the Royal Oman Police Hospital mortuary.
Ten out of 23 sailors were rescued when the ship sank in the early hours on Thursday.
Search continues
The South Korean envoy said that some of the relatives of the missing Korean seamen were expected to arrive in Muscat from Seoul last night along with a representative of the South Korean Jeju Shipping Company.
Kim also revealed that the 10 rescued sailors -Chileans Francisco Morales and Mario Lopes, Filipinos Norman Marido, Ernesto Mulle, Frolan Amores and Michael Jara and Koreans Jin Jun Sik, Sin Gang Chol, Hyun Gwan Soo and Yang Young Sin -were recovering fast from various injuries ranging from broken bones to cuts.
"Commercial vessels in the vicinity are continuing the search for the missing sailors," Kim said.
The 26,000-tonne Orchid Sun went down 150kms east of Muscat when the Korean registered vessel reportedly began to take water from forward cargo hold. The 23-crew ship was carrying a cargo of 42,000 tonnes of iron products for Iran.
Dr Corsino said that the mission had provided all the assistance to the injured Filipino seamen at the Khoula Hospital.
"They have lost everything, including their passports," he said, adding that the embassy was in touch with the authority in Manila to process papers for the injured so that arrangement for their return to Philippines could be made.
"We are piecing together details to establish their identities and issue relevant papers for their exit from Oman," he said.
