Fishing vessel adrift deep in the Pacific, 10 crew missing
Contact was lost with Taiwanese longliner YONG YU SING NO 18 since Dec 30 in North Pacific northwest of Hawaii, on Jan 1 owner contacted Fisheries Bureau, Coast Guard, and the National Rescue Command Center (NRCC), asking for assistance, according to FleetMon.
It stated: “NRCC deployed US plane, on Jan 2 YONG YU SING NO 18 was spotted some 600 nm northeast of Midway island, adrift and seemingly, abandoned. Lifeboat is also missing, so probably, 10 crew left the vessel on a lifeboat.”
It added: “From the looks of her, she was damaged in collision, most likely during night time, crew might panic and abandon her. Search for missing crew continues.”
