2nd crew member, dead cows found after ship sank off Japan

Tokyo: Japanese rescuers found a second crew member and multiple dead cows Friday in waters where a livestock ship capsized and sank during stormy weather two days earlier, coast guard officials said.

The man was found unconscious and floating face down about 120 kilometers (75 miles) northwest of Amami Oshima in the East China Sea, where rescuers have been looking for the Gulf Livestock 1 ship and its missing crew since it sent a distress signal early Wednesday.

The man, whose nationality and crew status is unknown, was being taken to a hospital on the island, regional coast guard official Rena Uchinomiya said.

She said rescuers also spotted an unidentified number of cows floating in the area.

So far, she was not aware of reports of any dead cows washing ashore Japanese coasts.

The 11,947-ton ship, its 43 crew and 5,800 cows left New Zealand in mid-August heading to Tangshan on China's eastern coast.