South Korean cargo ship vanishes off Uruguay

Authorities are still searching for the very large ore carrier Stellar Daisy and its 22 crew members after losing contact with the vessel in the South Atlantic about 1,500 miles off the coast of Uruguay, South Korea’s foreign ministry said Sunday.    A South Korean cargo ship has apparently vanished in the South Atlantic ocean, according to the country’s foreign ministry.
   As first reported by state-run news outlet Yonhap, authorities are still searching for the very large ore carrier (VLOC) Stellar Daisy and its 22 crew members after losing contact with the vessel about 1,500 miles off the coast of Uruguay. Eight of the missing crew are South Korean nationals and the other 14 are Filipinos, according to the ministry.
   A member of the ship’s crew reportedly sent a text message distress signal to operator Polaris Shipping on Friday saying the vessel had begun taking on water on the port side.
   “A search operation is continuing for the 22 people,” a ministry official in Seoul said, adding that South Korea has requested aid from Brazil and Uruguay in the search and rescue efforts, according to a report from Reuters news service.
   Reports from Yonhap over the weekend indicated that two of the crew may have been found in a life raft, but the identities of the rescued sailors has yet to be confirmed.
   The 266,141-deadweight ton Stellar Daisy was en route from Brazil to China with a shipment of iron ore when the distress signal was sent.