"You are our only hope!” Last voice before Fujing 001 sank

Distress recording showed crewmen on mainland engineering ship Fujing 001 attempting to ask for rescue before sinking.

Fujing 001 broke in two 300 kilometers from Hong Kong at 7.25 am last Saturday in Typhoon Chaba.

At 5.42 am on that day, the crew of the ship with 30 onboard ask the nearby South China Sea Rescue Bureau's rescue vessel for help over the radio, “Please try to come over now. You are our only hope! Try your best to come over”.

However, the rescue vessel could not get close due to the strong wind and waves. 

After some 45 minutes, Fujing 001 contacted the Chinese Navy in urgent, repeating that the vessel had tilted 21 degrees to the right and had seen water coming in. They also said the vessel was close to the offshore wind farm.

At 11.20am, the ship disappeared from the automatic identification system.

A rescue mission is ongoing as 14 people were still missing, and 12 corpses have been found. Only four crewmen have been rescued so far.