China: Search for Four Missing People from Sheng Ping 001 Continues

The four people that fell overboard and went missing when the Sheng Ping 001 installation vessel tilted and partially sank on 25 July while working on CGN’s wind farm off Huizhou have not yet been found, according to CCTV News.

Local search and rescue (SAR) centres and authorities have initiated underwater search operations on 26 July, in addition to the SAR operation using vessels and helicopters that was launched immediately after the accident.

With unfavourable weather and sea conditions during the day on 27 July, the divers who came to the site the day before were able to carry out an underwater search in the evening with, unfortunately, nothing to report.

Underwater search was said to continue once the conditions improve.

According to China’s CCTV News, although weather conditions got worse at night on 27 July, the vessels that have been searching for the four missing people continued their efforts in the area.

More than 40 vessels have been trying to find the four people from Sheng Ping 001 over the past two days. Alongside the official vessels deployed for SAR operation, there are several tugboats, workboats and fishing boats in the area joining the search. A clean-up vessel Haiyang Shiyou 251 is also at the site, in case of any pollution prevention emergency.

The Sheng Ping 001 jack-up vessel, formerly Teras Fortress 2, tilted and started sinking on 25 July while working at the site of China General Nuclear Power Corporation’s (CGN) wind farm off Huizhou. Of the total of 65 people on board, 61 were evacuated from the site and transferred to shore the same day, while four went missing.