Person rescued at sea dies

SINGAPORE - The body of a person who died after being rescued at sea arrived at Brani terminal in Singapore on Tuesday morning.

The person was rescued in the South China Sea by container ship APL California on Aug 2, but died while the ship was travelling to Singapore.

The APL California is chartered by APL, a subsidiary of the Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines.

A witness who declined to be named said he saw several police officers collecting a body from the ship when he went to work on Tuesday morning.

"I thought they found one of the seven missing people from the sand barge," he said, referring to the capsizing of the Guo Liang 677 on July 24.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore had coordinated more than 210 vessels and four aircraft in its search for the sand barge survivors, but called it off on July 30.

When The New Paper contacted the shipping company, an APL spokesman confirmed that the body was on board its ship, but it was not a casualty from the sand barge capsize.

In distress on yacht

The APL California was en route from the Chinese port of Chiwan to Singapore when it rescued a person in distress on a yacht, he said.

"The casualty passed away shortly after, despite the medical assistance rendered," the spokesman said.

The vessel resumed its course to Singapore and notified the local authorities of the incident.

The body was brought ashore to the PSA terminal at about 7.30am on Tuesday.

The police confirmed the body was handed to them at Brani terminal on Tuesday, after they received a call for assistance from the ship on Sunday evening.

The identity of the deceased is unknown and the cause of death is being investigated. Police have classified it as an unnatural death.

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