Ship capsized dozens feared dead

Dozens of people are feared dead after a ship carrying livestock sank in the Mediterranean off Lebanon due to stormy weather on Thursday.

three U.N. peacekeeping vessels made up of one Italian and two German, Lebanese army rescue boats and a Cypriot based British vessel were all in the waters looking for the missing crew of the Panamanian-flagged Danny II ship which capsized in the early evening hours.

19 people were rescued according to first reports but the search is continuing for the remaining 64 crew members that were on board the ship. The crew were mostly from the Philippines and Pakistan and were transporting 43,000 sheep from Uruguay to Tartous in Syria.

High waves and wind were hampering the night search, the sources said. Rescue workers said people could not survive more than a maximum of 10 hours in the waters in current weather conditions.

“We were asked by the Larnaca Rescue Co-Ordination Centre (in Cyprus) to assist in a rescue effort in the region. We have scrambled one of our air assets to the area,” said Stuart Bardsley, a spokesman for the British bases in Cyprus.

He said the helicopter was scrambled at 8 p.m. British time but did not have further details on the incident. “We know the weather was pretty bad,” he said.