• Chinese police say 12 bodies have been found following a shipwreck in the South China Sea that left 30 crew members missing.
• The vessel was severely damaged by a typhoon and split into two pieces, leaving 26 people still unaccounted for after Saturday’s disaster.

Chinese police announced Monday that 12 bodies had been found following a shipwreck in the South China Sea over the weekend that left 30 crew members missing.

The announcement was made days after an engineering vessel 160 nautical miles (296 kilometres) southwest of Hong Kong was severely damaged by a typhoon and split into two pieces.

The Guangdong Maritime Search and Rescue Centre reported on Monday that as of 3:30 pm on July 4, rescue forces found and recovered 12 bodies, suspected to be of victims who drowned, in an area around 50 nautical miles southwest of the site where the vessel sank.

“The relevant departments are stepping up identity confirmation work,” according to the notice.

As per Chinese official media, three individuals were rescued on Saturday and one more on Monday morning, leaving 26 people still unaccounted for.

Hong Kong officials posted dramatic images of a person being evacuated onto a helicopter as waves broke over the deck of a partially submerged ship.

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Typhoon Chaba began in the middle of the South China Sea and hit land on Saturday afternoon in the Guangdong province of southern China.

At 7:25 am local time (23:25 GMT on Friday), rescuers in Hong Kong were told about the incident. They found the ship near the centre of Chaba, where bad weather and wind farms made the operation “more difficult and dangerous.”

Currently, seven aircraft, 246 boats, and 498 fishing vessels are searching for the remaining missing passengers, according to a statement released on Monday.

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