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Merchant Ship Sinks Off Ireland; 17 Thought Dead

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From Times Wire Services

A Panamanian-registered cargo ship sank in heavy seas northwest of Ireland today and its 17 Korean crew members were presumed dead despite life rafts dropped by a rescue plane, the Royal Air Force said.

Five bodies were recovered after an extensive search, RAF spokesman Pat Coffey said.

The Secil Angola, carrying salt from Spain to Iceland, sank at 7:30 a.m. after losing its forward hatch covering and taking on water, the coast guard said.

The first distress call came at about midnight, said coast guard spokesman John Griffiths in Clyde, Scotland.

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At 6 a.m., the ship’s captain sent a last desperate message: “There is great danger. Helicopters please hurry.”

An RAF Nimrod maritime reconnaissance aircraft, the first on the scene, reported that the stricken vessel was awash--just above the surface of the water--at 7:20 a.m., Griffiths said.

Minutes later the pilot reported that radio contact had been lost, the ship had turned on its side and sank.

The Nimrod dropped six life rafts for the 17-man crew, Coffey said, but there was no sign of survivors when a Sea King helicopter from RAF Brawdy in Wales reached the rafts.

“(The pilot) searched each of these dinghies and he reported no survivors. He thought there was little hope of there being any found,” Coffey said. “What happened we don’t know. The means of rescue were there, and he had his own life raft as well.”

Coffey said the weather may have prevented the crew reaching the life rafts.

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