A Comoros-flagged cargo ship with 14 folks on board has sunk off the island of Lesbos in gale-force winds, the Greek coastguard mentioned Sunday, prompting a serious rescue operation.

A navy helicopter picked up one crew member of the RAPTOR cargo ship, in keeping with the coastguard, who has been taken to Lesbos General Hospital.

Five cargo ships, three coast guard vessels, air power and navy helicopters in addition to a navy frigate have joined the rescue effort.

Authorities mentioned the cargo ship, which was carrying 14 crew members and was loaded with salt, went down 4.5 nautical miles (8.3 kilometres) southwest of Lesbos early Sunday.

The ship had sailed from Dekheila, Egypt, heading for Istanbul.

The Athens News Agency (ANA), quoting the working firm of the ship primarily based in Lebanon, mentioned that crew members included two Syrian nationals, one Indian and 11 Egyptians.

An earlier coastguard assertion had instructed there have been 4 Indians and eight Egyptians on board.

According to the authorities, the ship first reported a mechanical failure at 7 a.m. native time (0500 GMT).

At 8:20 a.m., the captain reported that the ship was tilting, and activated the “mayday” misery sign earlier than disappearing from the radar.

According to ANA, the ship is believed to have taken on water in its maintain because of the robust waves, inflicting the ship to listing on account of its heavy load and sink.

Ships remained docked throughout a number of elements of Greece over the weekend, with wind speeds reaching 9-10 on the Beaufort scale, that means a robust gale to storm power.

An emergency climate warning by the Hellenic National Meteorological Service (EMY) was upgraded on Saturday from “worsening weather” to “dangerous weather phenomena”, as Storm Oliver (additionally known as Bettina) moved from the Adriatic Sea towards Greece.

Earlier this month, a historic Greek warship was broken by gale power winds after repeatedly hanging the dock.

The nation has been struck by repeated flooding over current months after being hit by a collection of storms.

Central Greece was devastated in September by cataclysmic quantities of rain dumped by Storm Daniel, destroying crops and killing tens of 1000’s of cattle throughout a large space that’s the coronary heart of Greece’s agricultural manufacturing.