Maybe it's only me, but that thing looks like it would be top heavy *without* 6,000 head of cattle shoved on it.

Perhaps one of our salty seadogs can elucidate.

Cattle ship capsized in storm off Japan, rescued crewman says-download-1-jpg

TOKYO/WELLINGTON (Reuters) - A ship carrying 43 crew and nearly 6,000 cattle from New Zealand to China capsized after losing an engine in stormy weather in the East China Sea, the only crew member rescued so far told Japan’s coastguard on Thursday.

The Gulf Livestock 1 sent a distress call from the west of Amami Oshima island in southwestern Japan on Wednesday as Typhoon Maysak lashed the area with strong winds and heavy seas.

Japan’s coastguard said it had rescued one crew member, Sareno Edvarodo, a 45-year-old chief officer from the Philippines, on Wednesday night (Tokyo time) while searching for the ship.

According to Edvarodo, the ship lost an engine before it was hit by a wave and capsized, a coastguard spokeswoman said.


When the ship capsized, crew were instructed to put on lifejackets. Edvarodo told the coastguard he jumped into the water and did not see any other crew members before he was rescued.

Pictures provided by the coastguard showed a person in a lifejacket being hauled from choppy seas in darkness.


Three vessels, five airplanes and two divers had been deployed to continue the search, the coastguard said.


The crew included 39 people from the Philippines, two from New Zealand, and two from Australia, it added.
Cattle ship capsized in storm off Japan, rescued crewman says - Reuters