Seven crew members have been rescued from the sea after jumping from a cargo ship that developed a severe list off the coast of Lebanon. The Panama-flagged general cargo ship Seahorse was carrying timber from Turkey and approaching the port of Sidon when it began listing on Sunday 25 October.

Nine other people, including the captain, remained on board. Lebanese Civil Defence teams, working with the navy, recovered the seven crew members from the water and stayed in contact with the captain. The rescued crew were reported to be in good health.

Water in the cargo hold

Responders found about 3.5 to 4 metres of water in the ship's number five cargo hold, where movement on board was extremely difficult because of the angle of the list. Emergency pumping reduced the water level to about 50 to 60 centimetres. The ship, built in 1997 and about 100 metres long, was then judged stable enough to proceed to Beirut, where it arrived on Monday 26 October and was lying alongside a quay with timber discharge under way, according to one report.

The accounts differ on the early cause. Initial reports linked the list to shifting timber cargo, while later accounts pointed to water ingress and a possible grounding on approach to Sidon, where the port's maximum draught is eight metres and the ship was reported to have reached nine metres. The captain first told authorities the situation was under control and no help was needed, then requested assistance as the list worsened. The precise sequence that caused the flooding has not been established in the reports used here.

Sources: The Maritime Executive, Baird Maritime