Crew saved as ship slips below waves

Fifteen sailors were rescued Sunday evening after their freighter began to sink near the mouth of the Yangtze River, the local maritime authority reported.

The 98-meter-long freighter, which was laden with a cargo of mineral sands, sent out a distress call around 7:50 pm after it began to teeter due to strong winds, according to the Ministry of Transport's Donghai Rescue Bureau and the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration.

The administration dispatched four rescue vessels as soon as it received the call, according to a statement from the administration.

The vessels rescued the freighter's 15 crew members around 9:35 pm, according to the statement. Rescuers cordoned off the area around the sinking ship, which slipped below the waves at 9:59 pm.

The freighter had been hauling 4,725 tons of mineral sands from Nantong, Jiangsu Province, to Longkou, Shandong Province. It was owned by a transportation company in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province.

Ships carrying mineral sands are more likely to be involved in accidents because the sand has a tendency to absorb water, increasing its weight, said Pan Jiefeng, a press officer with the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration. It can also easily shift inside a freighter's cargo hold, which can cause a vessel to tip to one side.

Human error may have been a factor in the accident, according to the statement. The case remains under investigation.