The 260,000 tonne ore carrier Stellar Daisy went missing on 31st March 2017

Bulk Carrier Missing 650km NW of Tristan

260,000 tonne ore carrier Stellar Daisy missing in South Atlantic 650km NW of Tristan da Cunha
Fears for 22 missing crew members after 2 were rescued

Edited from reports from Andy Repetto, Chris Carnegy and International Media

NSRI photo of the Stellar Daisy near South Africa in 2014

The South Korean cargo vessel Stellar Daisy is missing after making its last contact in the South Atlantic at 34°18mS 18°47m W about 650km north-west of Tristan da Cunha and 2,500 kilometres (1,500 miles) from shore in South America on 31st March 2017.

The ship, a Very Large Ore Carrier (VLOC), is operated by South Korea’s Polaris Shipping Company but was flagged to the Marshall Islands, and had 16 Filipinos and eight South Koreans on board.

It was transporting 260,000 tonnes of iron ore when it departed from the Guaiba terminal, near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 26th March en route to China. The vessel sent a distress signal to the ship’s operator shortly before 14.00 GMT on Friday 31st March. A crew member reported said the ship was taking in water on the port side and was listing rapidly.

Brazil and Uruguay search and rescue services were mobilised after a request from authorities in South Korea. Two Filipino crew members were rescued floating in a life raft on Saturday 1st April, but other lifeboats and rafts found in the area were empty, and so the search operation is continuing for the 22 missing people, which include 8 South Korean nationals and 14 Filipinos

In a statement on 3rd April, The Uruguay Navy has said that the first ships to reach the scene had detected a strong smell of fuel and spotted debris, indicating the ship had probably sunk. "The more hours pass, the less the chances are of finding them," Gaston Jaunsolo, a spokesman for the Uruguayan navy told Reuters news agency. Jaunsolo told reporters that the ship probably split in two and sank.