The World : Freighter Sinks; 17 Killed

A freighter of Panamanian registry hauling a load of salt from Spain to Iceland capsized and sank in heavy seas off Scotland, killing all 17 crew members, the British coast guard said. Ships, planes and helicopters struggled in vain to aid the Japanese-owned Sescil Angola. Bob Conolly, pilot of a British Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft that was first on the scene, said the crew members may have died because they waited too long to abandon ship. “The crew did not want to abandon ship. They wanted to come off by helicopter. They held on too long and the boat turned over,” he said. But he added that weather conditions were so severe that even if the crew had abandoned ship earlier, their chances of survival would have been slim.